Ashley Dale suspect claims gang bullied friend and called him 'grass' before he killed himself
26.10.2023 - 08:09
/ manchestereveningnews.co.uk
A suspect accused of the murder of Ashley Dale has claimed his friend's suicide was caused by a member of the 'Hillsiders' gang. Rikki Warnick, was 'called a grass' by the Liverpool gang before he killed himself on July 21 last year, a jury has been told this week.
Mr Warnick died by suicide one month before Ashley was gunned down in her home by James Witham, 41. Sean Zeisz, one of the men accused of arranging the shooting, has told a jury that he blames Jordan Thompson, aka 'Dusty', for Mr Warnick ending his own life, the Liverpool ECHO reports.
A jury at Liverpool Crown Court has heard Thompson, from Radway Road in Huyton, was a friend of Ashley's boyfriend, 25-year-old Lee Harrison. A police officer told the jury both men were affiliated with an "active" organised crime group based in the Hillside and Longview areas of Huyton, known as the 'Hillsiders'.
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The prosecution say Witham and Joseph Peers, 29, were "dispatched" to kill Harrison by Zeisz, 28; Niall Barry, 26; and Ian Fitzgibbon, 28, who were allegedly directing the hit from a flat in Pilch Lane, Huyton. All five men deny Ashley's murder and conspiracy to murder Lee Harrison and are standing trial.
Witham has admitted kicking down the front door of Ashley's home in Leinster Road, Old Swan, and spraying the inside of the house with bullets from a Skorpion sub-machine gun in the early hours of August 21 last year. The jury has heard he will claim he did not see or hear Ashley and was attempting to "send a message" to Harrison, who was not at home at the time.
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