Paul Greaney KC appeared for the Crown in the prosecution of the men charged with the murder of Ashley Dale and with conspiring to murder her partner Lee Harrison. James Witham, Joseph Peers, Niall Barry and Sean Zeisz were convicted.
Ashley was killed when the gunman, James Witham, smashed his way into her home with a Skorpion sub-machine gun, pursuing Ashley through the house, before shooting her dead. Having done so, the gunman went upstairs and opened fire in a bedroom, so as to send out a message to Lee Harrison, who was not at home. The background to the case was organised criminality of an extremely serious type, in which Ashley (an environmental health officer with the local authority) was entirely uninvolved.
The case received widespread national publicity during the 7-week trial before Mr Justice Goose at Liverpool Crown Court.
The defendants will be sentenced on 22nd November.
Paul Greaney KC led Alex Longhorn and Holly Menary of 7 Harrington Street Chambers and was instructed by Olivia Cristinacce-Travis and James Allison, Senior Crown Prosecutors, from CPS Merseyside.
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