Ashley Dale’s boyfriend Lee Harrison and the man accused of arranging the shooting that killed her were “very good friends and business partners”, a jury heard.
Stan Reiz KC delivered his closing speech on behalf of his client, 26-year-old Niall Barry, also known as Branch, who denies any involvement in an attack on Ashley or her boyfriend Harrison. Ashley died on August 21 last year after being shot in the abdomen with a Skorpion sub-machine gun in her home in Leinster Road, Old Swan.
James Witham, 41, has admitted barging through Ashley’s front door at around 12.30am and spraying the inside of the property with bullets. However, he claims he did not see or hear Ashley and was only intending to “send a warning” to Harrison, who he claimed had been stealing drugs and money from him “for years”.
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The prosecution case is that Witham and Joseph Peers, 29, were “dispatched” to kill 25-year-old Harrison and “anyone who got in the way” by Barry, 26; Ian Fitzgibbon, 28; and Sean Zeisz, 28, who were allegedly directing the hit from a flat in Pilch Lane, Huyton. All five men deny murdering Ashley and conspiracy to murder Harrison and are standing trial at Liverpool Crown Court.
Harrison and Barry had been friends before a falling out around three years ago. However, Barry’s defence claims he had “turned the other cheek” after being robbed of drugs by the Hillsiders gang, who Harrison was affiliated with. Mr Reiz addressed the dispute and told the court: “Niall Barry and Lee Harrison had been very good friends and business partners.
“They were together selling drugs. Someone from the Hillsiders had robbed Niall Barry. What was suggested was that he didn’t support Niall Barry and had been disloyal. The person who seemed to contribute to this was Ian Fitzgibbon.
“He was the one telling Lee he had been short changed by Branch. For all the cross examination of Mr Fitzgibbon whether Niall Barry was the kind of person to turn the other cheek, Mr Fitzgibbon maintained that the only experience he had of Mr Barry was the fallout with Lee Harrison.
“You heard the question, was Mr Barry a man who would turn the other cheek and walk away, or was he a different kind of character? Well, turn the other cheek was essentially what he did. There was no violence or retaliation. They cut ties and went their ways.
“There are only two things, according to Ashley’s messages, which Niall Barry said or did in summer last year, that indicate he was still aggrieved with Lee Harrison. The first was what Mr Fitzgibbon reported was said to him at Glastonbury, that was the first threat.
“That appears to be the first indicator, after a number of years since their fallout, that Niall Barry is still aggrieved with what occurred in the past. The messages which follow suggest that she took that threat seriously. What if he meant it? It’s a matter for you what Niall Barry said and if Ian Fitzgibbon accurately reported that.
“Ian Fitzgibbon may well have had a reason to exaggerate what he said about Niall Barry’s comments. It was Ian Fitzgibbon who contributed to their fallout in the first place. She does say that when Lee spoke to Branch, he was denying it but effectively Lee believed Ian. Perhaps Ian Fitzgibbon had Lee Harrison’s best interests at heart.
“Perhaps he had an agenda of his own. If you think it’s the latter, you’ll have to think how credible what he said was. If you take his account at face value, Niall Barry was drunk and off his head at a music festival. Mr Barry told you that, for reasons Ashley explained, he didn’t like Lee Harrison.
“They were not friends last year and he hadn’t forgiven him for being disloyal. He also said he never intended to cause him harm. If he was so angered, no doubt he would have acted on that at the time or in the weeks, months, years that followed. There is no suggestion to say that he did anything of the sort.
“He admits he made a threat. Did he mean it? Was he intending to carry it out? If he wasn’t, the evidential weight it has in this case diminishes.”
Mr Reiz also told the court that Harrison’s account to the police had been “dismissed as unhelpful” because he had not agreed with their theory that his client had been behind the shooting. He said: “He maintained that he could not believe Barry was capable of killing Ashley because of how old that fallout was.
“Branch knew Ashley and had been to their home previously as a friend. The conclusion was, Lee Harrison was being totally uncooperative. You haven’t had the opportunity of seeing Lee Harrison. You could have decided for yourselves whether he was telling the truth about an important issue in the case.
“You’ll never know how he would have answered or how he would have come across. What you have is the account he gave to the police and the second hand account from Ashley Dale which she refers to in her voice notes, which you may think must have emanated from Mr Harrison.
“When Mr Harrison distanced himself from what Ashley was saying, that doesn’t mean he was contradicting it. There may be a good reason why what Ashley was saying was different.
“Ashley wasn’t simply repeating what Lee Harrison had told her. What she did was tell her friends how that made her feel. You may think it is entirely subjective. It may be the case that something that caused her anxiety didn’t trouble Lee Harrison. The prosecution have said the person behind the shooting must have been Niall Barry because Lee didn’t have a problem with anyone else. That may be because Lee Harrison didn’t tell her about everything going on in his life.
“There can be little doubt he did have an issue with James Witham in the summer of last year. Niall Barry had no direct contact with Lee Harrison for years and, even on Ashley’s own account, he had only recently popped out of the woodwork.”
Lead counsel for the Crown, Paul Greaney, KC, told a jury of five men and seven women during the prosecution’s opening last month that Witham and “driver” Joseph Peers, were “dispatched” to assassinate Harrison and “leave no witnesses”. They had allegedly received their orders from Barry, Zeisz and Fitzgibbon – who were said to have been “directing operations” from a flat on Pilch Lane in Huyton.
The court heard that, at around 11.40pm on August 20 2022, two men approached Ashley’s white Volkswagen T-Roc car – which was parked outside the house – and slashed its tyres, causing the alarm to sound, in an effort to “lure” the occupants out. But it is thought Ashley believed the alarm had been set off by heavy rain and did not leave her house.
Mr Greaney said: “The men who had damaged the car were not deterred. Fifty minutes later, at about 12.30am, they returned. This time, they were not to be diverted from their intention to kill. One of the men approached the front door of 40 Leinster Road and he kicked it in. Ashley plainly became aware of what was happening. She screamed and fled towards the back door of the house, but the man entered the house and he pursued her.
“He was armed with a machine gun and opened fire. Ashley was struck by a bullet – it passed through her abdomen, causing catastrophic damage.”
Mr Greaney said that “certain events at Glastonbury Festival” in June 2022 had “played an important part” in the alleged motive behind the attack, adding: “Ashley Dale and Lee Harrison, her boyfriend, attended the festival, as did at least four of the defendants – Sean Zeisz, Niall Barry, Ian Fitzgibbon and James Witham. A group of other young men from Liverpool were also present, one of whom was a person called Jordan Thompson – who was known as Dusty.
“Lee Harrison seems to have had an association with the group of which Dusty was part. Whilst at the festival, Sean Zeisz was assaulted and his attackers included Jordan Thompson. This attack appears to have occurred because Sean Zeisz was, as it was later expressed, arguing with everyone for Niall Barry – who was known as Branch. To compound the loss of face for Sean Zeisz, in the aftermath of the assault his girlfriend – a woman called Olivia, known as Liv, McDowell – stayed with the group of which Jordan Thompson, Lee Harrison and Ashley Dale were part.
“It is clear that Sean Zeisz felt deeply humiliated from what had happened at Glastonbury.” The court also heard that Barry then sided with Zeisz, with this “fresh” dispute having compounded a “separate and longstanding antagonism towards Lee Harrison”. Mr Greaney said: “Niall Barry used these new events at Glastonbury to reignite that old feud and, as tensions simmered in Liverpool, Niall Barry made a series of threats directed towards Lee Harrison.”
Witham, of Ashbury Road in Huyton, Zeisz, of Longreach Road in Huyton, 26-year-old Barry, of Moscow Drive in Tuebrook, 29-year-old Peers, of Woodlands Road in Roby, and 28-year-old Fitzgibbon, of Heigham Gardens in St Helens, have pleaded not guilty to murdering Ashley Dale, conspiracy to murder Lee Harrison and conspiracy to possess a prohibited weapon, namely a Skorpion submachine gun, and ammunition with intent to endanger life. Witham has admitted the lesser charge of manslaughter.
A sixth defendant – 26-year-old Kallum Radford, of Trentham Road in Kirkby – denies assisting an offender. The trial, before Mr Justice Goose, continues.
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William Turner is a seasoned U.K. correspondent with a deep understanding of domestic affairs. With a passion for British politics and culture, he provides insightful analysis and comprehensive coverage of events within the United Kingdom.
