Graffiti appears labelling defendant a 'grass' after giving evidence in Ashley Dale murder trial

A defendant in the Ashley Dale murder trial was branded a "grass" in graffiti outside a Liverpool landmark after he gave evidence. Ian Fitzgibbon was acquitted by the jury as four others were convicted of murdering the 28-year-old council worker.

Following the conclusion of the case, the Liverpool Echo has revealed that he was labelled a "snitch" after he spoke from the witness box at Liverpool Crown Court. An image circulated on WhatsApp showed a mugshot of the 28-year-old, from St Helens, mocked up alongside the word "Snitchgibbon".

Meanwhile, white paint was used on a wall near to the entrance of Croxteth Hall Country Park, which read "Ian Fits grass". Fitzgibbon's legal representatives wanted to present the graffiti to the jury, as evidence to back up his concerns of "being labelled a grass".

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Ashley was shot dead in her own home on Leinster Road in Old Swan in the early hours of August 21 last year. James Witham, Joseph Peers, Niall Barry and Sean Zeisz had been on trial at Liverpool Crown Court accused of the council worker's murder, and were unanimously convicted by a jury on Monday, November 20.

They were also found guilty of conspiracy to murder Ms Dale's boyfriend Lee Harrison and conspiracy to possess a prohibited weapon, namely a Skorpion submachine gun, and ammunition with intent to endanger life. Fitzgibbon was cleared of these three charges while a sixth defendant, Kallum Radford, was acquitted of assisting an offender.

Mr Fitzgibbon claimed on the witness box that co-defendant Niall Barry had pulled out a knife to him at