'Intended target' of Elle Edwards shooting stole Amazon van days before tragedy

A gang member who was targeted in the Christmas Eve shooting which killed Elle Edwards stole an Amazon delivery van days before the killing. Parcels were seen being thrown out of the van before being 'transferred' into a Ford Kuga, which had also been stolen earlier in the month, a court heard.

And in a crucial piece of video evidence, a man believed to be Jake Duffy was heard boasting: "Man's just took the whole Amazon van, you know." The 24-year-old is believed to have been the intended victim of drug dealer Connor Chapman on December 24, 2022.

Chapman opened fire on the Lighthouse Inn in Wallasey Village, Wirral, just after 11.50pm, the Liverpool Echo reports. Innocent Elle, 26, was killed and five others were injured - including Duffy and his friend, Kieran Salkeld. It was the final, tragic outcome of a deadly chain of events, triggered by Duffy and Salkeld's brutal beating of a man called Sam Searson just one day earlier.

READ MORE: Pictured at Dovestones, one of the last images of a loved 21-year-old before his horrific death

Duffy and friend William Duggan, also 24, appeared at Liverpool Crown Court on Friday (July 5) after pleading guilty to the theft of an Amazon delivery van on Frankby Road, West Kirby, on December 16, 2022.

Duffy also pleaded guilty to handling a stolen motor vehicle - a £14,500 Ford Kuga, which had been stolen from Broomfield Gardens, Liverpool, on December 6. The car was found torched and stripped of its number plates on Boundary Road, Birkenhead, on December 19 2022.

Using GPS data retrieved from the burned-out car, detectives were able to track its movements between December 6, when it was stolen, and the date it was found. At around 4.30pm on December 6, the Kuga was caught on CCTV