Police arriving at Ashley Dale's house in the minutes after she was shot found the property riddled with bullets. Body-worn camera footage shows officers entering the 28-year-old's home just moments after James Witham gunned her down.
PC Darren Bratt found Ashley lying on her back in the back garden of the property having suffered "catastrophic" internal injuries from a bullet fired from a Skorpion sub-machine gun, Liverpool ECHO reports.
Witham, 41, kicked in the door of Ashley's Liverpool home in the early hours of August 21 last year and opened fire, killing the Knowsley Council worker. He claims he did not know she was there at the time and that he was trying to "send a message" to her boyfriend, Lee Harrison.
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He admits manslaughter but denies murder and is one of six men currently on trial at Liverpool Crown Court in connection with her death, alongside Niall Barry, 26, Sean Zeisz, 28, Ian Fitzgibbon, 28, Joseph Peers, 29, and Kallum Radford, 25.
The prosecution claim that Witham and Peers were "dispatched" to kill Mr Harrison by Barry, Zeisz, and Fitzgibbon, who were alleged to have directed the hit from a flat in Pilch Lane, Huyton.
The video, which was edited to stop before tragic Ashley's body was shown, was played to the jury this week. PC Bratt's footage shows officers announcing themselves at the door before moving inside, with bullet holes visible around the door of the dining room and kitchen.
Describing what he found in the back garden, PC Bratt said: "To the left side of the bin, that’s where Ashley Dale’s head was positioned. The head was positioned towards the garden wall. There appeared to be a small puncture wound to her stomach. She appeared to be unconscious.
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“I shouted to see if I could get a response, but I didn’t get any. I’ve shouted then for colleagues to come to the rear. A couple of seconds later, Constable [Daniel] Rowlands came in the rear garden.”
PC Bratt said neither of the officers could find a pulse, and that he “discovered another puncture wound to her back" when checking for further injuries.
He said: “I initially thought that she’d been stabbed. As I was conducting CPR I heard an update that there were bullet casings in the address.”
Ashley was moved to the kitchen, where more CPR was applied before she was rushed by an ambulance to hospital. PC Bratt travelled with her in the ambulance, but she was pronounced dead shortly after arriving at hospital.
The jury heard Witham fired 15 bullets in the house, 10 downstairs and five in an upstairs bedroom. The bullet that killed Ashley was determined to have struck her in the kitchen, as she turned to flee out of the back door, before lodging in a bar stool.
Bullet holes were found in the hallway, dining room and kitchen, as well as a wall in the bedroom. Forensic firearms scientist Andre De Villiers Horne previously told the jury that analysis of the scene supported the conclusion the gunman had been moving towards Ashley as the shots were fired.
The prosecution claims an incident at Glastonbury Festival two months before the shooting "reignited" a feud between Barry and Mr Harrison, who had previously been close friends. Ashley, who described the "heavy beef" between the pair, spoke of her "terrible anxiety" that something "bad" was going to happen in messages to pals.
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Witham, of Huyton; Zeisz, of Huyton; Barry, of Tuebrook; Peers, of Roby; and Fitzgibbon, of St Helens, have pled not guilty to murdering Ashley Dale, conspiracy to murder Mr Harrison and conspiracy to possess a prohibited weapon and ammunition with intent to endanger life. Radford, 25 denies assisting an offender.
The trial, before Mr Justice Goose, continues and is scheduled to last for six to eight weeks.
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