Everything heard in the seventh week of the Ashley Dale murder trial as jurors retire to deliberate verdicts

manchestereveningnews.co.uk:

This is everything that was heard in court during the seventh week of the Ashley Dale murder trial. Five men deny the murder of the 28-year-old Knowsley Council worker.

During the seventh week of the trial, defence barristers gave their closing speeches and the judge summed up the evidence to the jury.

On Friday, the jury was sent out to begin deliberating on their verdicts, the Liverpool Echo reports. James Witham, of Ashbury Road in Huyton, 28-year-old Sean Zeisz, of Longreach Road in Huyton, 26-year-old Niall Barry, of Moscow Drive in Tuebrook, 29-year-old Joseph Peers, of Woodlands Road in Roby, and 28-year-old Ian Fitzgibbon, of Heigham Gardens in St Helens, have pleaded not guilty to murdering the Knowsley Council worker, conspiracy to murder her boyfriend Lee Harrison and conspiracy to possess a prohibited weapon, namely a Skorpion submachine gun, and ammunition with intent to endanger life.

Witham, 41, has admitted the lesser charge of manslaughter, having shot the 28-year-old victim dead in her home on Leinster Road in Old Swan in the early hours of August 21 last year. READ MORE: Body of woman, 46, found near river after police search READ MORE: Man fighting for life after being hit by police car involved in chase A sixth man - 26-year-old Kallum Radford, of Trentham Road in Kirkby - denies assisting an offender.