Woman tells court she let gunman stay because he got her friend pregnant

A woman accused of harbouring the gunman who killed a beautician outside a pub has told a court she let him stay at her home after he got her best friend pregnant and his girlfriend found out.

Roxanne Matthews, 34, told Liverpool Crown Court on Monday she had bought cocaine and cannabis from Connor Chapman, who opened fire outside the Lighthouse pub in Wallasey Village, Merseyside, on December 24 2022, killing 26-year-old Elle Edwards and injuring five others, in the culmination of a feud between rival gangs.

She told the court she had been out with a friend on New Year’s Day 2023 and they had met Chapman in the afternoon to get cocaine.

She said: “I told him my friend was pregnant to him.”

She told the court: “I could hear a lot of shouting. He said she was angry and she’d chucked him out.

“He came to mine. He was a bit upset, obviously. I felt awkward. She was my best friend.

“I told him it would be OK if he didn’t have anywhere to go, I didn’t mind if he stayed.”

Matthews said she had “no idea” that police had executed a search warrant at Chapman’s grandparents’ home.

The mother-of-three said she had helped Chapman to search for a lodge in Wales for himself, his girlfriend and their baby.

She said she believed he wanted to book the trip to “make amends with his girlfriend”.

A lodge was booked on January 9, but Matthews said there had been accommodation available for earlier dates.

She said: “He waited until he could get the one available with the hot tub.”

She said: “It looks like I’ve given him the phone. He’s obviously pretended to continue looking for lodges and he’s took it upon himself to do what he’s done.”

Matthews, who told the court she was missing a front tooth because of physical abuse in a previous relationship, said she knew Chapman had been “in and out of prison” for drugs and theft.

She said in her police interview she used the phrase “plastic gangsters” to describe “silly boys” who “think they’re something they’re not”.

The court heard she read news of the shooting online just before 7am on Christmas Day.

She said: “I was shocked, horrified, disgusted.”

Matthews, 34, of Noctorum, denies three counts of assisting an offender.

Chapman’s uncle David Chambers, 43, of no fixed abode, denies two counts of the charge and Danielle Dowdall, 34, and Paul Owen, 55, both of Woodchurch, Wirral, each deny one count.

The trial will continue on Tuesday.