Heartbroken dad of murdered Elle Edwards speaks of anguish

dailyrecord.co.uk:

The heartbroken father of Elle Edwards, who was murdered on Christmas Eve, has spoken of his anguish as he faces a second Christmas without his daughter.Tim Edwards, 52, had to identify daughter Elle, 26, after she shot outside of a Merseyside pub on December 24 of last year.

Beautician Elle was an innocent bystander. Wiping away tears as he spoke of the trauma for the first time, Tim said it was terrifying to hear of children being groomed by gangs to become gun runners, the Mirror reports.Children as young as nine will be spoken to by local community groups about the dangers of gang violence, and the warnings might even extent to kids aged five.Tim said: “It’s terrifying to hear kids this young are being groomed, but it’s becoming more and more common.

My grandson is four now. In a few years one of his friends could be one of these kids. The children being groomed into gangs now will be the ones using guns in the future.”Elle and Tim were had planned to wrap Christmas presents together on the night of her murder but she decided to go out with sister Lucy, 22, to Lighthouse pub in Wallasey Village.Outside of the pub, Connor Chapman, 23, had been waiting for three hours to target gang rivals Kieran Salkeld and Jake Duffy and was armed with a Skorpion submachine gun.While Elle was having a cigarette, she sat on a wall across from Salkeld and Duffy.

She knew both but was not friends with them. Chapman released 12 shots into the crowd as he approached from the carpark.Tim said: “I had to watch the CCTV of her getting shot before the trial.