Ashley Dale's devastated mum said her 'life might as well have ended' when her daughter was shot dead at her home in Merseyside.
The 28-year-old council worker was gunned down in her own home on Leinster Road in Old Swan, Liverpool, in the early hours of August 21 last year. Gunman James Witham, 41, forced open the door and fired 10 bullets in her dining room, one hitting Ms Dale in the abdomen as she stood by the back door, and five bullets into the wall of an upstairs bedroom.
At Liverpool Crown Court today (November 22), Witham and the three other killers - Joseph Peers, Niall Barry and Sean Zeisz - were jailed for a total of 173 years. Witham was sentenced to life in prison with a minimum term of 43 years in prison, Peers was sentenced to life in prison with a minimum term of 41 years, Barry was sentenced to life in prison with a minimum term of 47 years and Zeisz was sentenced to life with a minimum term of 42 years.
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Before the sentencing, Julie Dale read a heartbreaking statement as the defendants watched on. During one part of her victim statement, Witham left the dock, the Echo reports.
She said since her daughter's death, 'time has stood still' and she described the past year as 'unbearable'.
She said: "03:45 on the 21st August 2022. The day I not only lost my daughter, but my best friend. The night we got that dreaded knock that no parent or family should ever have to get.
“Two police officers stood at my door, an image that will haunt me forever. I remember walking down the stairs, saying to Bobby (her partner) “I’m scared”, I know what this means. “Can we come in?”, they said. Never did I think they would say these words. ‘She’s passed away’ they said.
“My life might as well have ended there too. Those three little words had just turned my lights out forever. Time has since stood still.
“How? Why? What’s happened? Are you sure it’s Ashley? All those questions running round my mind. Our lives had just been turned upside down in the blink of an eye. She can’t be, we only spoke a few hours ago and she was fine.
“There’s been an incident at the property, Ashley’s home. She has been shot” they said. Shaking, I fell to the floor.
“The police officers left, leaving carnage behind. Myself and Bobby in total shock and disbelief. Ashley’s two younger sisters were sleeping peacefully in their beds upstairs. Then the reality set in, that I was going to have to tell them, that their big sister they so adored was no longer here."
Ms Dale described how her daughter's 'screamed' when she told them their big sister had passed away. She went on: "Ashley’s only crime, that she fell in love with the wrong person.
"A person who could not keep her safe in life or offer any help or show any compassion to me or my family but continue to lie and make up reasons. None of which included him.
"At 45 I’d lost my daughter, my life has changed forever. I’ve been forced to leave my job as a midwife, which I have done for the past 20 years. A career I’d worked so hard for, to better mine and Ashley’s lives, defeating the odds by going to university and getting a degree after being wrote off as a young mum.
"The sense of loss after not being unemployed since the age of 16, and the financial hardship and worry this has brought. I hate that I won’t see her get married, have children and deliver her babies, become Nanny Julie or grow old together like we always joked about. Often being mistaken for sisters as we were only 16 years apart.
"Trying to fill that void, as we spoke every day sharing everything. Getting into my car and calling her, even if she never answered, that I will never get used to. We don’t get to spend another Christmas with her, harassing me to put her tree up. Walking in on Christmas Day looking like a supermodel, asking “when’s dinner ready?” and I look like I’ve been dragged through a hedge sweating over the stove.
"We should be celebrating her 30th birthday this year, a milestone we all so looked forward to celebrating, and have that trip to New York, like we did for her 18th.
"I don’t like leaving the house any more, socialising with friends, having my photo taken, going the gym and doing all the things we once enjoyed as a family - I am a different mum, friend and partner now."
Directly addressing her daughter's killers in the dock, Ms Dale said: "I hope you all understand, that I will never ever forgive you, for the life sentence you have gave to me and my family."
Ashley’s dad, Steven Dunne, said he had been 'confined to a living nightmare'. He told the court how his son had been shot dead seven years previous at only 16 years of age.
“I can’t even begin to describe how I felt. I’d instantly been confined to a living nightmare. He then proceeded to tell me that Ashley had been shot", Mr Dunne said. "I remember shouting ‘no’ for a long time at the top of my voice; I couldn’t believe it - history had repeated itself."
A statement from Ashley's grandmother, Susan Steinhilber, was also read in court. It said: "I am Susan Steinhilber, Ashley’s paternal Grandmother. “Gramma Sue” as Ashley named me from when she could first talk and a name that has stuck with family since that day.
“Her amazing mother Julie, at only 16 years old, gave my son Steven, his first child at 18 years old and me my first grandchild when I was 43. Ashley’s birth was one of the happiest moments of my life.
“I still have a picture in my mind of the first time I held her in my arms nearly 30 years ago. She was so tiny and beautiful I shed tears of happiness that first time. Ashley was also an extra blessing for me, a mother who has four sons and no daughters. I was over the moon that Julie and Steven had given me a girl as my first grandchild.
“I spent as much time as I could with Ashley as she grew as a baby, toddler, young child and teenager. At times she was my constant, delightful companion on visits to family and friends in Liverpool, who all adored her. My visions of her as a very pretty, happy, popular, clever and funny child will never leave me.
“When Ashley graduated from John Moores University in environmental health at Liverpool’s Anglican Cathedral I could not have been prouder. My heart was bursting with love for her and I enjoyed her happiness on that special day so much.
“My talented granddaughter, Ashley Louise Dale, had the world at her feet and I cannot describe how devastated I feel at losing her, and in such a cruel way. I also feel so much pain for both Julie, her mother, Steven, her father plus her sisters Yasmin, Nancy and Connie for their loss.
“As a mother, trying to support my son Steven through his heart breaking grief of losing his eldest daughter, who he was so very close to, I cannot possibly describe, as it hurts so much, particularly after losing his only son Lewis, Ashley’s 16 year old brother, so cruelly eight years ago.
“I wake every morning hoping that this is just a bad dream, but it isn’t, I miss Ashley terribly, who is no longer with us in body but she will always be with us in spirit."
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