Four people have appeared in court charged with assisting an offender in connection with the murder of Elle Edwards, who was shot outside a Merseyside pub on Christmas Eve 2022.

Ms Edwards, a 26-year-old beautician, was hit twice in the back of the head when 12 shots were fired from a Skorpion submachine gun outside the Lighthouse pub in Wallasey Village, Wirral, shortly before midnight on December 24 2022.

Last July, Connor Chapman, 23, was found guilty of murdering Ms Edwards, who was not the intended target of the attack, and was sentenced to life with a minimum term of 48 years.

On Monday, David Chambers 42, Danielle Dowdall, 33, Paul Owen, 54, and Roxanne Rooney, 33, appeared at Wirral Magistrates’ Court charged with assisting an offender.

According to the charges, Chambers, of no fixed address, was accused of arranging for the hire of a Volkswagen T-Cross car to be used by Chapman.

Rooney, of Noctorum, Wirral, was charged with two counts of assisting an offender by hiring the Volkswagen T-Cross and booking a lodge to be used by Chapman, the court was told.

Dowdall, of Woodchurch, Wirral, is alleged to have disposed of clothes and Owen, also of Woodchurch, is accused of assisting in disposing of a Mercedes A Class car used by Chapman in the shooting.

No pleas were entered and all four were given conditional bail ahead of a plea hearing at Liverpool Crown Court on February 12.