A drug dealer who killed Elle Edwards in a shooting at a crowded pub was on the cusp of receiving a whole life order, which is usually reserved for serial killers and terrorists, a judge has said.
Mr Justice Goose said that Connor Chapman must serve at least 48 years before he was eligible for release, but stopped short of imposing a sentence with no possibility of parole.
As he was handed the sentence, one of the longest in UK history for a single murder, Ms Edwards’ family gasped and said “goodbye lad” as he was taken to the cells.
The 26-year-old beautician was killed by Chapman who had fired a Skorpion submachine gun at a group of people from a rival housing estate standing outside the Lighthouse Inn, in Wallasey, Wirral.
Edwards was a “wholly innocent” bystander who was struck in the head by two bullets after stepping outside the pub for a cigarette shortly before midnight on Christmas Eve last year.
Sentencing Chapman, 23, at Liverpool Crown Court on Friday, Mr Justice Goose said he had been on the cusp of imposing a whole life order that would mean he would never be eligible for parole.
He said: “While some may consider a whole life term should be served, I have concluded your offending is on the cusp.
“I cannot conclude a whole life term must be imposed.”
Mr Justice Goose said that Edward’s family would never come to terms with what happened and Chapman’s crime was “as wicked as it was shocking”.
He added: “It’s utterly shocking, you carefully planned a revenge attack in a gang rivalry. You had no thought for anyone else. The risks of what you did were as high as they were obvious.”
Notorious criminals handed whole life orders include Wayne Couzens, Ian Brady, and Ali Harbi Ali.
In 2020, Manchester Arena bomber Salman Abedi avoided a whole life order but was sentenced to at least 55 years in prison.
A statement from Edwards’ mother, Gaynor, said: “Since Elle has been gone I have never been the same, I can’t accept that she has gone. I still think she’ll come home.”
Her grandmother said: “If I were to die tomorrow, the coroner would write on my death certificate ‘cause of death: she died of a broken heart’.”
Mark Rhind KC, for Chapman, said there was “very little” mitigation, adding: “I cannot suggest there is remorse.”
Speaking outside court, Edwards’ father Tim said: “If I’m lucky enough to still be around for a long time yet I will do my best to make sure he never comes out.
“Things need to change and we’ve made a start with that.
“I think, 48 years, if you think of picking up a gun now you should think twice about it.”
The trial heard the shooting had been the culmination of an escalating feud between gangs on the Woodchurch estate, where Chapman lived, and the Beechwood, or Ford, estate on the opposite side of the M53 in Wirral.
Chapman, a father of two, claimed he was at home all night when the shooting happened and that he had given another man, whom he refused to name, the key to a stolen Mercedes.
But the jury found it was Chapman who had driven the car to the busy pub and waited outside for almost three hours before launching the attack, which seriously injured his two intended targets and three other men who were unconnected to the feud.
After the shooting he fled the scene in the car and drove to friend Thomas Waring’s house, where CCTV showed Chapman, with distinctive long hair, appearing to drop the gun on the pavement as he walked towards the address.
Co-defendant Waring, 20, was sentenced to nine years for possession of a prohibited weapon, assisting an offender and failing to comply with a disclosure notice.
As well as murder, Chapman was convicted of two counts of attempted murder, two counts of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm and one count of assault occasioning actual bodily harm, as well as possession of a Skorpion submachine gun.