David Chambers, Danielle Dowdall, Roxanne Matthews and Paul Owen were found not guilty by a jury after six hours and 20 minutes
Two men and two women have been found not guilty of assisting an offender in connection with the murder of Elle Edwards. The 26-year-old beautician died after being shot outside the Lighthouse pub in Wallasey, Wirral, shortly before midnight on Christmas Eve 2022.
Connor Chapman was convicted of her murder in July last year and later jailed for life with a minimum term of 48 years. David Chambers, Danielle Dowdall, Roxanne Matthews and Paul Owen have been on on trial at Liverpool Crown Court accused of assisting an offender in connection with the fatal shooting having allegedly harboured the gunman in the aftermath, disposed of his clothing, helped him to torch the stolen Mercedes used in the attack and then aided his escape to a holiday lodge in Wales as the police closed in.
They were unanimously found not guilty of the respective charges against them this afternoon following six hours and 20 minutes of deliberations by a jury of eight men and three women. A 12th juror was discharged midway through the case due to “personal issues”.
READ MORE: Elle Edwards latest: Four men and women found not guilty of assisting offender
Ms Dowdall and Ms Matthews broke down in tears and thanked the jury after they delivered their verdicts. All the defendants embraced before they were allowed to join the dock to re-join their loved ones in the public gallery. Mr Chambers told the defence counsel: “Thank you for everything you’ve done for everyone.” Mr Justice Morris thanked the jury for their task which they carried out with “calm and dedication”.
Jurors previously heard that Mr Chambers, Chapman’s uncle, allegedly dropped the Berghaus fleece and Nike trainers worn by his nephew during the shooting at Dowdall’s home on Big Meadow Road in Woodchurch on the afternoon of Christmas Day 2022. The 43-year-old, of no fixed address, was shown on CCTV visiting the murderer’s nearby address on Houghton Road before allegedly travelling by car in the direction of his co-defendant’s house.
Katy Appleton, prosecuting, detailed how this came around 45 minutes after the first recorded mobile phone contact between the two. Mr Chambers however claimed that he had attended Chapman’s property in order to collect additional chairs for Christmas dinner and did not then continue onwards to visit Ms Dowdall.
She meanwhile stated that she had been given a Santa sack filled with the killer’s belongings before Christmas Eve after he had been kicked out by his girlfriend. While WhatsApp messages between the 34-year-old and her mum, subsequently recovered by Merseyside Police, revealed a plot to steal and pawn jewellery which had also been left in her care, she claimed that these were not items which had been purchased by the shooter from Pandora during a shopping trip to Manchester earlier on December 24.
Ms Dowdall subsequently performed a factory reset of her phone on December 30. This followed a string of communications with Chapman a matter of hours earlier.
Mr Owen was meanwhile said to have allowed the trigger man to borrow his Mercedes GLC in order to travel in convoy to a site off Grassy Lane in Frodsham with accomplice Thomas Waring, where the two men torched the stolen Mercedes A-Class which was used in the murder. His car was driven to a location near to outdoor activity centre Hover Force on false number plates after being collected from him at the Horse and Jockey pub in Upton on the evening of December 31 2022.
The 55-year-old, of Kiln Road in Woodchurch, said that he only knew Chapman, his drug dealer, as “Curly”. He maintained that he had asked his associate to drive his vehicle, which he described as his “pride and joy”, home for him as he was planning to spend New Year’s Eve drinking in the pub, having apparently had no knowledge of his involvement in the shooting.
Ms Matthews was accused of allowing Chapman to hide out in the converted attic of her home on Ormond Mews in Noctorum after he became aware that he was wanted by the police when officers raided his grandparents’ home on New Year’s Day. It came as he was forced to cancel a ferry booking from Portsmouth to Santander scheduled for January 2 2023.
Chapman instead headed for Wales on January 9, where he stayed in a spa with a hot tub which had been booked for him by Ms Matthews. The 34-year-old also hired a Volkswagen T-Cross to enable his travel to Penllwyn Lodges, with Mr Chambers having earlier driven her to collect this vehicle from a branch of SIXT car hire in Speke.
The following day, January 10, Chapman was detained close to his accommodation at a Tesco supermarket in Newtown alongside his partner Danielle Jones. Mr Chambers then dropped his phone number on January 11 after learning of the arrests. Chapman would ultimately be charged with Ms Edwards’ murder on January 13. That morning, having heard the news, Ms Dowdall messaged her mother stating: “I’m minding his f***ing clothes.”
Later the same day, she dropped the bag of Chapman’s clothing at the home of Mr Chambers’ then partner Melissa Mason. He said that he had then taken these belongings to his relative at Copy Lane Police Station, where he was being held in custody.
Ms Matthews also reported the rental car as stolen to Merseyside Police on this date, alleging that Chapman had taken the vehicle without her consent after she had leased it for her own use. However, she stated at trial that she made the bookings for him and allowed him to stay inside her home without any knowledge of his crimes, apparently believing that he had once again been thrown out by his girlfriend after getting another woman pregnant.
Mr Chambers similarly said he had innocently given his co-accused a lift to collect the car without knowing it would be used by Chapman. Mr Chambers was today found not guilty on two counts of assisting an offender, while Ms Dowdall was cleared on one such charge. Ms Matthews was found not guilty of three counts of the same offence and Mr Owen was cleared of the one charge.
Waring was previously convicted of this offence and possession of a prohibited weapon, having taken possession of the Skorpion submachine used in the shooting and travelled with Chapman to burn out the murder car a week later. He was jailed for nine years in July 2023.
