THE family of a 26-year-old beautician killed by a gunman who opened fire outside a pub on Christmas Eve has paid tributes to a "caring and beautiful granddaughter, daughter, sister, auntie and best friend".
Connor Chapman was found guilty following a trial at Liverpool Crown Court of the murder of Elle Edwards, who was hit twice in the back of the head when he fired 12 shots from a Skorpion submachine gun outside the Lighthouse pub in Wallasey Village, Wirral, Merseyside, shortly before midnight on December 24 last year.
The 23-year-old was sentenced by Mr Justice Goose.
Victim impact statements from Elle's family were read out during the trial.
Elle's dad Tim: "On December 24, 2022 my daughter was doing what every young person should be doing at Christmas, enjoying herself in a pub with her sister and looking forward to a Christmas day with her family.
"That will never happen again, sadly her life was cut short and a granddaughter, daughter, sister, auntie and best friend was lost forever.
"As a daughter, she was the most caring and beautiful, happy person who would always put others before herself. As a child, she was the one who every kid went to for help or maybe just a hug sometimes.
"Her permanent smile would light up any room she entered, lifting the mood instantly. Elle would always greet you with a hug and ask 'how you doing' making sure that you were ok, in reality she gave the best hugs and that was always just enough to lift you if you were having a bad day.
"She always took her mum for her shopping and they would sit on the prom for hours with a coffee. I have no idea what they would talk about for so long but the two of them would always return home laughing as they came through the front door.
"Gaynor has not been able to face coming to court to sit through what we have had to listen to for the past four weeks but she wanted her voice heard and wrote the following paragraph herself:-
"First of all I want to know why you have done this?
"And what drove you to do this to my daughter, Since Elle has been gone I have never been the same. I can’t except that she is gone and I still think she will come home.
"Elle looked after me as I suffered with my health and since Elle has been gone my health has deteriorated and I cannot put into words how much I miss and love her.
"As parents myself and Gaynor could not ask for more from all our children as they have all turned out exactly as we hoped and will always do us proud.
"Elle as an adult was trying her hardest to make something of herself and she was not afraid of taking on a challenge and always got to where she wanted to be. Just as her life was cut short she was reaching her peak and was the happiest I had ever seen her.
"Professionally she was achieving her goals and was at her peak she had such a bright future and was very positive about the future.
"The events of Christmas Eve have impacted us in a huge number of ways from severe mental health issues which are a daily battle for all of us, the feeling of hopelessness.
"The feeling of loss of a child is so devastating that it really can't be put into words the real effect it has and will for the rest of mine and Gaynor's life.
"It is hard to focus on the future when no matter what we do there is nothing we can do to bring our daughter back but for as long as I live I will do my best to make sure her name, ELLE MARLENE EDWARDS, is never forgotten and people will always want to know what she was like and hopefully use her name going forward to help those who need it as that is what she would have done herself.
Christmas will never be celebrated by myself. Gone has the point of Christmas as a time to be together because we never will "all be together"
"Elle will always be missing and the memories of Christmas 2022 will never be a good memory to share."
Elle's brother Connor wrote: "Having to make this statement and talk about my little sister is one of the hardest things I have ever had to do in my life.
"I last spoke to Elle on Christmas Eve at 8:35pm. I had rang her, she didn’t answer but then rang me back. I was curious to know what the plans were going to be for Christmas day as Elle was going to be cooking Christmas dinner with mum for the first time, usually Dad cooks.
"During our conversation, Elle said that she was in The Lighthouse, she had gone there last year and had had such a good time that she wanted to go back again. I reminded her that she was cooking the Christmas dinner the following day and she replied that she was with Lucy and that she would be home soon.
"I told Elle to have a good night, we said we loved each other.
"This was the last time we spoke.
"I was three years of age when Elle was born. We were born into a big loving family which had huge amounts of energy. Our childhood has many many happy memories thanks to our Mum and Dad growing up. We were brought up to love and respect each other, we were always out and never ever in. We had numerous family holidays and spent lots of time with our Grandparents.
"Me and Elle grew up side by side through our teenage years and were very close. We would argue or course as most siblings do but it was never anything serious. We had a great friendship which remained solid.
"We would have really good conversations, Elle would always compliment you, she knew what you were doing in your life and would make you feel good about yourself.
"I met my partner Kirby through Elle, Kirby and Elle were best friends. Myself and Kirby now have a four year old son Roman who Elle loved so much.
"As an Auntie Elle would spoil Roman and would often take him out with our Mum.
"How to explain to a four year old why Auntie Elle is no longer here is just impossible. He looks at pictures of Elle and points to the sky and tells his nursery teachers that he misses her. No four year old should be having these emotions and feeling the way he is.
"I find it so hard seeing my mum the way she is. She is just lost and is always waiting at the front of the house looking for Elle waiting for her to come home, it breaks my heart.
"Elle was as close as you could be to our Mum. They had the best Mother and Daughter relationship as you could ever have. Elle would help Mum with everything from shopping to just being there to talk to, keeping a smile on her face.
"Elle had time for literally everyone, she wasn’t shy she was fun and had a hug for everyone.
"Elle was needlessly taken away from our family, I miss going into her room and just having a laugh with my sister.
"Attending court every day has been mentally and emotionally draining on us all, but we are a strong family and we have only become stronger. Sitting in court and seeing the person responsible for the senseless murder of my sister fills me with anger. He has shown no remorse and is nothing but a cold human being.
"Not only has he taken Elle away from us but we have been made to sit for the last four weeks listening in detail and watching on CCTV how my sister was killed.
"Watching the CCTV over and over again has been nothing but brutal, but we have all stayed strong together, nothing can take this family down we will get through it.
"Moving forward we have got no choice but to stay mentally strong. We have lost everything, but we have to carry on with life as best we can and be there for each other.
"My beautiful sister Elle Marlene Edwards, I love and miss you. I will cherish the twenty six years we had together.
Susan Edwards, Elle's grandmother, wrote:
"You have heard from Tim about the love he had for Elle as a daughter and you’ve heard from Lucy for her love for Elle as a sister, but a Grandmothers love for a child is different.
"To me Elle was beyond caring, beyond kind, beyond generous and loving.
"Negativity was not part of Elle’s vocabulary. She wouldn’t spend time with negative people. If you were lucky enough to be chosen by Elle as a friend, you knew that friendship was to be cherished and would last forever.
"Elle seemed to live to make people happy. I can’t think of a single word in the English dictionary that describes Elle, so I thought that if I tell you a couple of stories about me and Elle then perhaps you will understand how special a granddaughter she was.
"I must tell you though, as ‘cheesy’ as it might sound to some she called me ‘Queen’ and I called her ‘Princess’.
"On my birthday Elle arrived with some beautiful flowers and my favourite chocolates from M&S and she said, “I am picking you up tomorrow at 2 o’ clock and we are going somewhere special. It’s a surprise so don’t ask, so get yourself ‘dicky dollied’ up Queen cos its somewhere special”.
"We set of the next day to where I didn’t have a clue. Now because of loosing my central vision, I could only see the blue motor way signs and couldn’t see any of the writing.
"So like an annoying child I kept asking “Are we there yet?” She just laughed and told me to wait and see. Even when we turned off a country road between the gates I still did not have a clue.
"She parked up in a wooded area of pine trees so I thought okay so we are going for a walk.
"We walked along a narrow path and towards a huge wall, it must have been about 30’ tall, you couldn’t see over it or around the sides. We went through an archway and there in front of us was a huge castle, it took my breath away and I was very emotional.
"Elle took some photographs with the castle behind me. But it is what she said that stayed with me, she said “Every Queen has to have her own castle”.
"She had booked us afternoon tea in my very own castle in the Cheshire Countryside.
"Who does that? Someone very special does that and went that extra mile to make me happy.
"Now besides eating cake I used to bake cakes all the time. Christmas 2021 we all went to Tim and Gaynors for Christmas dinner. Tim would be in the kitchen wrestling with the turkey and throwing sprouts around the kitchen, he cooked the dinner every year.
"About an hour before lunch we would all gather in the front room and exchange our gifts and play with Roman and his new toys. Elle gave me a large heavy box.
When I opened my parcel, inside was what I would call a cake dome, the type of thing you would use if you were lucky enough to have any cake left. It was beautiful, it had a heavy thick wooden base which sat beneath the glass. Elle had had a message carved in the base, it said ‘Nanny Sue’s delicious bakes’, and around the edge was carved ‘You are forever loved’. Yet again she went beyond to make me happy.
"I hope I have given you a bit of an insight into mine and Elle’s relationship. She was so very very special to me and my best friend.
"If I were to die tomorrow, the coroner would write on my certificate, cause of death….‘She died of a broken heart’.
"I miss my Angel Princess so much it hurts."
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here