Three men charged in connection with the murder of Ashley Dale
The Crown Prosecution Service has authorised Merseyside Police to charge three men in connection with the murder of Ashley Dale in Old Swan in Liverpool in August 2022.
Ashley Dale was found with gunshot wounds at an address in Leinster Road at 12.40am on Sunday, 21 August 2022. She sadly died shortly afterwards.
James Witham, 40, of Ashbury Road, Huyton and Joseph Peers, 28, of Woodlands Road, Roby, have been charged with murder and possession of a firearm with intent.
They both appeared at Wirral remand court on Tuesday 31 January 2023 and were remanded in custody They will next appear at Liverpool Crown Court on 2 February 2023.
The CPS has also authorised Merseyside Police to charge a third man in connection with the incident. Kallum Radford, 25, of no fixed abode, was charged on 31 January 2023 with assisting an offender. He appeared at Wirral Magistrates Court today, Wednesday 1 February, and will next appear at Liverpool Crown Court on 1 March 2023.
The Crown Prosecution Service reminds all concerned that criminal proceedings against James Witham, Joseph Peers and Kallum Radford are now active and that they have the right to a fair trial. It is extremely important that there should be no reporting, commentary or sharing of information online which could in any way prejudice these proceedings.
Notes to editors
- The decision to charge has been made in accordance with the Code for Crown Prosecutors.
- The function of the CPS is not to decide whether a person is guilty of a criminal offence, but to make fair, independent and objective assessments about whether it is appropriate to present charges for the criminal court to consider.
- The CPS assessment of any case is not in any sense a finding of, or implication of, any guilt or criminal conduct. It is not a finding of fact, which can only be made by a court, but rather an assessment of what it might be possible to prove to a court, in accordance with the Code for Crown Prosecutors.
- This assessment is based on the evidence available arising out of the police investigation and not on the evidence that is likely to be gathered by the defence, and likely to be used to test the prosecution evidence. The CPS charging decision is therefore necessarily an assessment on the basis of the evidence that is available to the CPS at the time the decision is made.
- CPS prosecutors must also keep every case under review, so that they take account of any change in circumstances that occurs as the case develops, including what becomes known of the defence case. If appropriate, the CPS may change the charges or stop a case.
- No further information is available at this stage.