'I'm no crime boss' says man accused of setting up shooting that killed Ashley Dale
manchestereveningnews.co.ukThe man accused of setting up the shooting that killed Ashley Dale in Liverpool has told the jury at his trial "I had no authority to send anyone to anyone’s house and I didn’t." Niall Barry, 26, also known as 'Branch', is accused of arranging an attempted hit on Ashley's boyfriend, 25-year-old Lee Harrison, due to an old feud relating to the theft of drugs from Barry in around 2018 or 2019.
The prosecution case is that Witham and Joseph Peers, 29, were "dispatched" to kill Harrison by Barry, 26; his friend Sean Zeisz, 28, and Ian Fitzgibbon, 28, who were allegedly directing the hit from a flat in Huyton.
All five men deny murdering Ashley and conspiracy to murder Harrison and are standing trial at Liverpool Crown Court. READ MORE: "City fans were chanting it's falling down - and they’re not wrong": Manchester United fan hits out after 'harrowing' Old Trafford ordeal READ MORE: Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham says M60 'just does not work' James Witham, 41, has admitted breaking down the door of Ashley's home on Leinster Road in the Old Swan area of Liverpool and spraying the inside of the property with bullets from a Skorpion sub-machine gun.
Witham is expected to claim he did not see or hear Ashley when he opened fire at around 12.30am on August 21 last year, and had instead been attempting to "send a message" to Harrison, who was out in the city centre at the time.
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