CONVICTED murderer Connor Chapman will appear before the Court of Appeal at the end of February after he killed Elle Edwards outside a Wirral pub.

Chapman, 23, was found guilty last July of murdering the 26-year-old beautician when he fired a Skorpion submachine gun outside the Lighthouse pub in Wallasey Village, shortly before midnight on December 24 2022.

Chapman was jailed for a minimum of 48 years for the shooting, of which Ms Edwards was not the intended target.

Chapman also received two concurrent life sentences, with a minimum term of 22 years, for the attempted murder of his intended targets, Jake Duffy and Kieran Salkeld.

He was also sentenced for two counts of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm, one count of assault occasioning actual bodily harm, possession of a Skorpion submachine gun with intent to endanger life and ammunition with intent to endanger life as well as handling stolen goods.

According to the government's HM Courts & Tribunals Service Court of Appeal website, Chapman is due to appear on Thursday, February 29. 

The Court of Appeal is the highest court within the Senior Courts of England and Wales and deals only with appeals from other courts.

It is believed Chapman is seeking permission to appeal (which is often referred to as seeking ‘leave' to appeal) against sentence to the Court of Appeal (Criminal Division).

If he is granted permission to appeal, the case will go to the full Court of Appeal who can reduce the conviction "where it is considered to be wrong in law, manifestly excessive or wrong in principle."

Chapman's co-defendant, Thomas Waring, was sentenced to nine years for possession of a prohibited weapon, assisting an offender and failing to comply with a disclosure notice.