Four men have been handed life sentences for murdering council worker Ashley Dale who was shot in her garden in Liverpool.

The 28-year-old’s boyfriend Lee Harrison, a drug dealer who was in a feud with a rival gang, was the intended target, Liverpool Crown Court heard.

He was not at her home in Old Swan when gunman James Witham, 41, forced open the door in the early hours of 21 August last year.

He fired 10 bullets from a Skorpion sub-machine gun into her dining room, one hitting her in the abdomen as she stood by the back door.

Witham, Joseph Peers, 29, Niall Barry, 26, and Sean Zeisz, 28, were found guilty on Monday of murdering Ms Dale, conspiring to murder Mr Harrison and possession of a prohibited weapon and ammunition.

Witham was handed a minimum term of 43 years, while Peers, Barry and Zeisz were told they must serve 41 years, 47 years and 42 years respectively.

The judge Mr Justice Goose said the murder had “shocked both the local community and many in this country”, adding that the use of a military sub-machine gun to kill a young woman in her own home was “beyond any understanding”.

He said Ms Dale was in the “prime of her life” when Witham “wickedly fired 10 bullets” as she was “vulnerable and defenceless” in her home “where she should have been safe”.

The judge added that Harrison’s refusal “to assist the police to bring her killers to justice” must have been “a cruel twist of fate” for Ms Dale’s family.

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