you obtain the submachine gloves. you obtain the submachine gun and a loaded magazine with 12 bullets. and when you left your home on the wood church estate to carry out the shooting, you took care to avoid security cameras on neighbouring properties. once you reached the village where they knew —— you knew they were to be, you waited almost three hours, carrying out reconnaissance as you drove to six different positions until you reach the car park close to the front door of the lighthouse, where you hid inside your stolen car waiting for your moment. and then standing outside at the front was the group of six, from a hidden position at the side of the building you burst forward to be as close as a few metres to father submachine gun, elle edwards was killed instantly, you hit five others with the bullets, all of them could easily have been killed, as

you ran back to the car, you fired the last few shots at the group, and then drove away at speed to the safety as you had planned it of thomas waring's home. i am satisfied that you asked him to look after the gun and you asked him to help destroy the stolen mercedes six days later. as the jury have found you knew that chapman had carried out the shooting and he had merited elle edwards when you agree to help in the disposing of the car. —— murdered. he also knew the police wanted to arrest chapman. the murder of elle edwards has caused profound and permanent grief to her family and permanent grief to her family and a great shock to the entire community. she was a very much loved young woman, in her prime, killed by you, chapman, when you were prepared to kill anyone in your determination for gang revenge. this court has heard exceptionally moving

statements from elle edwards�*s family, by herfather, brother, grandmother, and they will never be able to come to terms with what has happened to elle. the seriousness of this offence of murder count one is very substantially aggravated by the following evidence. the choice of weapon, which was exceptionally dangerous, the location of the offence with many people present on christmas eve, the background of criminal gang violence, the substantial preparation and premeditation, the removal or obstruction of important evidence including the car, phones and clothing as well as the washing of clothes, the fact you were the subject of criminal gang injunctions and as you told the jury you were dealing in classy drugs. apart from your age at the time of offending, being 22, you are now 23, there is no significant mitigation. while the

young age can be significant, in the circumstances of your offending, carries little weight, chapman. i must sentence you notjust carries little weight, chapman. i must sentence you not just for this very serious offence of murder, but also for the two offences of attempted murder, counts two and three, two offences of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily calm, counts four and five, occasional actual bodily harm, and possessing a firearm together with possessing a firearm together with possessing ammunition both with an intent to endanger life. —— harm. i must also sentence you for an offence of handling stolen goods, the stolen mercedes a class. for reasons that will become clear, i will pass concurrent sentences on all of these offences, but the seriousness of all your offending will be reflected in the count one of murder. the sentence of murder is imprisonment for life. i have to

decide whether that should be a whole life or a minimum term that few have to serve. the difference is whether your offending is so exceptionally serious and the contents of the gravest of murder offences that you should serve the whole of your life in custody rather than a very long term. whilst i am sure that there are some who would readily consider the whole life term should be imposed, i have concluded that your offending is on the cusp between a whole life and a very long minimum term. and in the circumstances, i cannot conclude that a whole life term is a sentence of last resort for the very gravest of last resort for the very gravest of murders must be imposed. the starting point in fixing the minimum term, the period that you must serve in custody before you might seek to be released, is 30 years on count one, i must increase that term, firstly to reflect the factors which

increase its seriousness, and secondly to reflect the other offences including two offences of attempted murder. itake offences including two offences of attempted murder. i take into account also to the limited extent that it provides any mitigation your age. accordingly, i increase the minimum term to firstly 36 years, and secondly up to 48 years which reflects your total offending. so that it reflects your total offending. so thatitis reflects your total offending. so that it is understood by you, connor chapman, as well as those observing, it means you will have to serve 48 years in custody before you could apply for release. and if you are ever released and considering your dangerousness, that might never happen, you will be on licence for the rest of your life and subject to recall to prison if you breach the terms of that license. i must also impose the sentence is to be served at the same time as your sentence on count one, on counts two and three, attempted murder, iam

count one, on counts two and three, attempted murder, i am satisfied that each of those offences require separate sentences of imprisonment for life under section 285 of the sentencing act 2020. therefore schedule offence and you are a dangerous offender, given the circumstances of these murder offences and the murder of elle edwards. they fall within category 82 under the guideline with a starting point of 30 years, which i increase on each to 33 years to reflect the aggravating factors i have identified on count one. there is little by way of mitigation, i must then fix the minimum term which i set at 22 years, accordingly the sentences for accounts two and three are concurrent sentences of imprisonment for life with a minimum term of 22 years. this means that you will have to serve three life sentences concurrently. on counts four and five, section 80, wounding with intent, they fall within

category a3 of the guideline, adjusting the starting point to reflect aggravating and mitigating factors, i impose seven years imprisonment concurrently. on count six, section 47, which falls within category a3, i impose 18 months concurrently. on count seven and eight, offences of possessing a firearm and its ammunition, both in category one a offences, i impose 15 years imprisonment concurrently with each other and all other sentences. handling stolen goods i impose three years imprisonment concurrently as a category two a offence. connor chapman, stand—up. isentence category two a offence. connor chapman, stand—up. i sentence you are as follows on count one to imprisonment for life with a minimum term to seven custody 48 years, less 176 days served on remand. one counts two and three concurrent sentences of imprisonment for life

under section 285, the sentencing act 2020, with a minimum term of 22 years. on counts four and five, concurrent sentences of seven years imprisonment. on count six a concurrent sentence of 18 months imprisonment, on counts seven and eight a concurrent sentence of 15 years, underthe eight a concurrent sentence of 15 years, under the offensives handling stolen goods, concurrent sentence of three years imprisonment, you can go down. three years imprisonment, you can go down, ., three years imprisonment, you can go down. ., ., , three years imprisonment, you can go down. ., ~g , . down. so, that was mrjustice goose there, down. so, that was mrjustice goose there. handing _ down. so, that was mrjustice goose there, handing the _ down. so, that was mrjustice goose there, handing the sentence - down. so, that was mrjustice goose there, handing the sentence down, i down. so, that was mrjustice goose | there, handing the sentence down, a lot of detail. there were eight counts that were considered, including handling stolen goods, so let's cross straight to danny shaw, a crimejustice and police commentatorjoining us here. i wonder if you could break this down for us, essentially, how long is

connor chapman going to be spending in prison but hold on, we have the sentencing of thomas waring. you were not sentencing of thomas waring. m. were not involved in what he did, however, you knew that he had carried out a shooting when you met him at your house in the early hours of the 25th of december, a short time after the shooting. you agree to look after the submachine gun until it was later taken away as undoubtedly it was and has not been recovered by the police. that firearm was a prohibited firearm, because of its rapid—fire facility and was a type one firearm under the guideline. i accept that this offence falls within category three a, and that the starting point the sentence is six years, with the statutory minimum sentence of five years custody, i see no reason to avoid that minimum term. your previous convictions do not significantly aggravate the offence seriousness and taking into account your age therefore the sentence to

five years from the starting point of count nine. for the offence of assisting an offender, count ten, i'm satisfied that the offending buy chapman was very grave which he knew. i'm also satisfied that your assistance was important and that it significantly damaged the interests ofjustice because it was the car used to carry out the shooting. accordingly your culpability was high and the harm caused was at least medium, set against the maximum sentence of ten years under the criminal law act, 1967. there is no sentence guideline for this offence, but the appropriate sentence before taking into account your age is six years which i reduced to five years for your youth. and it is necessary for your offences to be served consecutively, thatis offences to be served consecutively, that is to say one after the other. because they are clear and separate acts, want to possess a firearm, and the other to help to destroy the car. however i will reduce your

total sentence under the totality principle to nine years. i impose concurrent sentences of 12 months custody for the offence under section 49, having taken into account your late guilty plea. stand—up, thomas waring. i sentence you to five years custody on count nine and four years custody on count ten to be served consecutively, total sentence of nine years. i impose a concurrent sentence of 12 months the section 49 offence, you will serve half of that sentence less than 90 days on remand, you can go down. 50 less than 90 days on remand, you can .0 down. ., less than 90 days on remand, you can no down. ., .,, ~ less than 90 days on remand, you can .0 down. . ., ~ g , . go down. so that was mrjustice goose there. — go down. so that was mrjustice goose there, concluding - go down. so that was mrjustice goose there, concluding the - goose there, concluding the sentencing hearing for connor chapman, 23 years old, and thomas waring, 20 years old, in the murder of 26—year—old elle edwards on christmas eve of last year, just moments before christmas day. she

was shocked at the back of the head, dying instantly, when connor chapman shot into a group of six people outside the lighthouse pub on the wirral. and we havejust outside the lighthouse pub on the wirral. and we have just heard those sentences so we will cross to danny shaw, danny, iwonder sentences so we will cross to danny shaw, danny, i wonder if we could start off, please, with the sentencing of 23—year—old connor chapman? sentencing of 23-year-old connor chaman? ., ., ., , chapman? so, connor chapman has been civen a life chapman? so, connor chapman has been given a life sentence, _ chapman? so, connor chapman has been given a life sentence, in _ chapman? so, connor chapman has been given a life sentence, in fact _ chapman? so, connor chapman has been given a life sentence, in fact he _ given a life sentence, in fact he has been given three life sentences for the murder of elle edwards and two life sentences for attempted murder of the two men that he had targeted. and there were other offences as well for which he was sentenced, in total, he will spend at least 48 years in prison, 48 years is the minimum term, what that means is that he cannot apply for release for parole until he is 70

years old, so he is looking at an extremely long period of time behind bars. thejudge mrjustice goose made it clear that he did consider whether to impose a whole life tariff, that is to say that he would never be released from prison, he would never have the opportunity of applying for parole, but he said it was just applying for parole, but he said it wasjust on applying for parole, but he said it was just on the cusp of an extremely long minimum term and a whole life tariff and in the end he marginally came down in favour of a 48 year minimum term. it is one of the longest minimum terms that i can remember. it exceeds the minimum term imposed on thomas cashman, convicted of the murder of olivia in merseyside earlier this year, he was given a 42 year minimum term, so it is an exceptionally long sentence, reflecting the gravity of what he

did, the premeditation, the choice of location and weapon used, it was fired 12 times, the efforts he made to destroy evidence, and also the fact that against all this is a background of drugs dealing and he was on an injunction, he should not even be living where he was living at the time, the only thing that gave him a bit of credit was the fact that he was 22 at the time of the offence and relatively young. the judge, the offence and relatively young. thejudge, mrjustice goose, did say there was no significant mitigation in this case for him to consider? that's right. the only factor that he could take into account was that he could take into account was that he is a young man, he is 22, we know from scientific evidence that the brains of young people carry on developing until 25. and judges do take that into consideration in sentencing but it's only a small amount, given the exceptionally

serious nature of these crimes. it is possible that the sentence could be increased. there is a mechanism for anyone to apply to the attorney general�*s office, the senior law officer in england and wales, to apply to them to consider whether their sentences unduly lenient. if their sentences unduly lenient. if the attorney thinks it is, then the matter goes to the court of appeal, and then they could potentially increase that sentence to a whole life tariff. i think it's probably unlikely that would happen, i think thejudge has very unlikely that would happen, i think the judge has very carefully considered all the factors, and i would say that 48 years will probably be the sentence that will be the conclusive sentence in this case. , ., ., ., .,, case. let us now turn to thomas warinu , case. let us now turn to thomas waring. his — case. let us now turn to thomas waring, his co-defendant, - case. let us now turn to thomas waring, his co-defendant, a - case. let us now turn to thomasj waring, his co-defendant, a late waring, his co—defendant, a late admission of guilt, take us through

that sentencing, please. he is admission of guilt, take us through that sentencing, please.— that sentencing, please. he is 22. there were _ that sentencing, please. he is 22. there were three _ that sentencing, please. he is 22. there were three offences - that sentencing, please. he is 22. there were three offences to - that sentencing, please. he is 22. there were three offences to his l there were three offences to his name, one of possession of a prohibited firearm and one of assisting an offender, and also a minor offence relating to his mobile phone, not assisting the police and that. again, thejudge regarded these offences is very serious, particularly assisting the offender because he would have knownjust particularly assisting the offender because he would have known just how serious a crime it was that he was helping connor chapman with. what he has done is he basically said that both of those offences should be served consecutively, in other words one after the other, so you add them together. he said five years for each but then he reduced it by one year to take into account a legal principle called the totality principle, sort of making it a little bit fairer for the defendant,

and the other offence i think he was given 12 months to run at the same time, concurrently. in total, he was sentenced to nine years. thejudge said he would serve half of that in custody, i'm not absolutely sure if that's right, far be it from me to question a judge, but the rules may have changed and people for sentences of violence and firearms offences now serve two thirds in custody, but i stand to be corrected, but it is a nine—year sentence for thomas waring. 50. corrected, but it is a nine-year sentence for thomas waring. so, of course, sentence for thomas waring. so, of course. that — sentence for thomas waring. so, of course, that court _ sentence for thomas waring. so, of course, that court case, _ sentence for thomas waring. so, of course, that court case, the - sentence for thomas waring. so, of course, that court case, the court i course, that court case, the court is now closed with those sentencing remarks from mrjustice goose, do stay with us here on bbc news because we are awaiting statements from the chief investigating officer in the murder of elle edwards, and

also from elle's father, tim. we heard him speak outside the court yesterday and we are expecting to see him speak again. speak outside liverpool crown court as well. just very quickly, also with me at the moment is peter williams and nick garner who was in the court, but very quickly, peter, thank you for staying with us, in the sentencing of thomas waring, he was 20 at the time, we understand he had been attacked whilst in prison yesterday, he had been accused of being a grass, just how big a stigma is that? grass, “ust how big a stigma is that? ., ., , , , that? unfortunately, it is... nobody wants to be — that? unfortunately, it is... nobody wants to be labelled _ that? unfortunately, it is... nobody wants to be labelled a _ that? unfortunately, it is... nobody wants to be labelled a grass, - that? unfortunately, it is... nobody wants to be labelled a grass, so - that? unfortunately, it is... nobody wants to be labelled a grass, so to l wants to be labelled a grass, so to speak. so the fact that he was attacked in custody really doesn't surprise me. with those sorts of

things. but while that image of the grass is purveyed perhaps, what i would remind the viewers is the fact that in relation to the community, in both the offences of olivia and sadly elle edwards, the actual community response and the information supplied to merseyside police was outstanding and a key element in both of these investigations and inquiries, so perhaps this concept and issue of the grass is a bit overplayed in some regards.— the grass is a bit overplayed in some rerards. ., ~ ,, ., ., some regards. thank you for that, arain, some regards. thank you for that, again. don't— some regards. thank you for that, again. don't go — some regards. thank you for that, again, don't go away. _ some regards. thank you for that, again, don't go away. so - some regards. thank you for that, again, don't go away. so if - some regards. thank you for that, again, don't go away. so if you - some regards. thank you for that, | again, don't go away. so if you are joining us here on bbc news, we are covering the sentencing, we have just heard from mrjustice goose, in the murder of elle edwards, she was

26 at the time, she was shot twice in the back of the head, an innocent bystander, that took place on christmas eve of last year. our reporter was inside liverpool crown court and following that case. he joins us now, so what are your reflections of what took place in court this afternoon? this reflections of what took place in court this afternoon?— reflections of what took place in court this afternoon? this was a televised hearing, _ court this afternoon? this was a televised hearing, but _ court this afternoon? this was a televised hearing, but it- court this afternoon? this was a televised hearing, but it was - court this afternoon? this was a i televised hearing, but it was really personal to everyone who was in court today. court five one on the fifth floor of liverpool crown court behind me is a large court, it has a glass dock and two public areas, to public galleries where people can sit, the edwards family filled one completely and stretched over into the second public gallery, which was full as well of police officers who have been involved in the case and

also some journalists who were allowed in court as well. because of the numbers of people that wanted to be present, there was also an annex court where there were other journalists that were in there as well, there was such huge interest. and what we were led through was a detailing of the events of the night of christmas eve, if you watch the television or had the radeon christmas day you will remember elle edwards's case and what happened, and the judge took us through what had happened on the night, the prosecution did as well. and explained why this was such a serious case in terms of the preparation, the premeditation that had gone on, the weapon that had been used, this was a czech army made submachine gun called a scorpion gun, brutal weapon, made submachine gun called a scorpion gun, brutalweapon, it made submachine gun called a scorpion gun, brutal weapon, it can shoot 14 rounds in one second, it is designed with just one purpose in mind, and that is to kill, and when

connor chapman took that come out on christmas eve, that was the only intention he had, he had no other intention, he was not going out to win people, he was out to kill people, and he did not care who he shot. —— wound. he had been waiting in the car park for around three hours, when he came out of hiding, he came out of the shadows... he had... the pub was busy inside, a bit too busy perhaps, elle edwards wanted space and arrest, she came outside, sat down with her back towards the car park and at that point connor chapman came round and shot her twice in the back of the head, other bullets hitting two men who were the intended targets of the attack and wholly innocent bystanders as well. and looking through many of the things that the judge said the prosecution said,

what was interesting perhaps was mark rind, the defence solicitor for connor chapman, and quite literally he said, there is nothing i can say, he said, there is nothing i can say, he then went on to say he did not know if it was a serious offence for it to be considered for a whole life term where a prisoner is kept in prison for the rest of their life. thejudge had some prison for the rest of their life. the judge had some sympathy with some of that, he said this was on the cusp of a whole life sentence, and he sentenced him to 48 years as and he sentenced him to 48 years as a minimum sentence before he can be considered for release, to take that into consideration, the killer thomas cashman of olivia pratt—korbel was sentenced to 42 years, so what made this crime worse than the murder of olivia pratt—korbel? thejudge pointed out the premeditation involved, the fact this was part of a long—running feud, a long—running battle between

two gangs, and also the fact that the weapon used was such a horrendous weapon, that it was... it only had one intention, to kill. as we went through the proceedings, the family came to give their side of events, and we heard statements from tim edwards, who is elle's father, and also her brother, sister and grandmother as well, and throughout all of those times, everyone was in tears and the public gallery, tim edwards sat with a box of tissues in front of him, often reaching for it to try and wipe away the tears, as elle's grandmother's statement was read to the court by the prosecuting counsel, she was in tears as well, being consoled from behind as she went. she said that elle used to call her queen, and she used to call elle princess, she said there aren't

words to explain just what elle was like, so she told the court stories about what it had been like growing up about what it had been like growing up with elle edwards as your granddaughter. and said to the defence counsel for chapman, how do you respond to that? mr rind said... knew that throughout the proceedings adopt i will interrupt their because we are picking up some disturbance in your microphone. i we are picking up some disturbance in your microphone.— in your microphone. i wonder if we could possibly _ in your microphone. i wonder if we could possibly fix _ in your microphone. i wonder if we could possibly fix that _ in your microphone. i wonder if we could possibly fix that and - in your microphone. i wonder if we could possibly fix that and then - in your microphone. i wonder if we could possibly fix that and then we will come back to you and hear more details of what took place in liverpool crown court today. danny, we were listening to nick describing the atmosphere, and also some of the details leading up to the shooting.

key to this was this attempt to destroy the evidence, just tell us more about the evidence. essentially, the car that was used, a stolen mercedes, i believe, that was used, that chapman together with thomas waring drove off and then set light to it, it was found burnt out by the m 56 some miles away, that was a key part of the evidence clearly, the weapon has never been found, so we don't know where that is, but attempts to destroy other evidence such as clothes etc. these are all key things that people who are all key things that people who are planning an attack will do, will think about, what will happen afterwards, and we can see in this case that this was not a spontaneous

incident, this was something that had been thought out and planned before, and certainly the car being set alight and burnt out was a key part of that. it's worth saying that the murder of elle edwards came after a shocking year in merseyside in terms of gun crime. there were five fatal shootings in total, they included the murder of olivia pratt—korbel, ashley dale and sam rimmer, all killed in august that year, all murdered through firearms incidents. and it's interesting to note that, since this incident and since connor chapman has been arrested, the number of firearms incidents in merseyside has dropped considerably. and that is something

testament to the good work of police investigators and so on, but it shows you that, in a particular location, normally in big cities, if you get a situation where you get gangs involved in violence and they have access to firearms, the devastation they can bring is just enormous, it mayjust be a small amount of violence over a small period of time, but it absolutely has a devastating impact, and gun crime in this country in england and wales is relatively rare, we have very strict firearms controls and laws, the latest figures for 2021—2, 12 people lost their lives from fatal shootings, a relatively small number compared with the number of people who are knifed to death, stab

wounds, people who are strangled and so on, it's a small number, but it's so on, it's a small number, but it's so important that the police and other agencies are vigilant for gun crime and to stop the flow of weapons getting in, the scorpion weapons getting in, the scorpion weapon that was used, i know you were talking about it earlier, it is a check made weapon, and probably imported from the balkans from eastern europe, that is how many of the weapons of got in traditionally. stay there, danny, but thank you very much, our reporter who was in court following the sentencing hearing was nick who is outside liverpool crown court now. very quickly, to remind viewers, we are to remind viewers, we waiting to hearfrom quickly, to remind viewers, we are waiting to hearfrom quickly, to remind viewers, we are quickly, to remind viewers, we are waiting to hear from the chief... the senior investigating officer in waiting to hear from the chief... the senior investigating officer in this case, as well as elle's dad tim this case, as well as elle's dad tim who we expect to come out, possibly who we expect to come out, possibly to stand close to where you are into to stand close to where you are into his statements in to what took place his statements in to what took place

earlier shortly, so the viewers with earlier shortly, so the viewers with us to stay with us for that. you described what took place in liverpool crown court as personal, nick, you described some of the reactions, family members were in tears as statements were read out from father, mother, brother, grandmother, in all that time what was thomas chapman and thomas waring's reaction to hearing such powerful testimony? waring's reaction to hearing such powerfultestimony? —— waring's reaction to hearing such powerful testimony? —— connor chapman. powerfultestimony? -- connor chapman-—