A man who allegedly assisted the killer of a 26-year-old beautician shot outside a pub on Christmas Eve has told a court he did not know his drug dealer was the gunman.
Paul Owen, 55, said he bought cannabis and cocaine from a man he knew as Curly, but claimed he did not know he was Connor Chapman, 24, who opened fire outside the Lighthouse pub in Wallasey Village, Wirral, on December 24 2022, killing Elle Edwards and injuring five others.
A trial at Liverpool Crown Court has heard Owen’s car was borrowed by Chapman when he and Thomas Waring drove in convoy on New Year’s Eve to burn out the Mercedes A Class used in the murder.
Giving evidence on Friday, Owen said he would meet “Curly” outside the Horse and Jockey pub in Upton to buy drugs from him.
He told the court he had previously asked the drug dealer to move his car from the pub to his home, in the Woodchurch estate.
Asked why Chapman had agreed to move the car for him, he said: “It could be because I was his best customer.”
Owen said he had driven to the pub with his partner on New Year’s Eve in his Mercedes GLC but when he arrived he was told by the landlord there would be fireworks and it might be a good idea to move his car.
He arranged to meet Chapman outside the pub and there was a phone call between them shortly before 7.30pm, the court heard.
He said: “That was me asking if he could come and move my car to my partner’s property.”
Owen, who previously served in the Army, said Chapman drove his car away from the pub and he had expected him to return later with drugs.
He later texted Chapman saying: “Be careful, bacon everywhere.”
He said: “I was warning him because I thought he had drugs on him. I didn’t want him to get caught because the drugs were for me.”
Owen was asked by Christopher Stables, defending, if Chapman had asked to borrow his car so he could go to burn out the car used in the murder.
He said: “Definitely not.”
Mr Stables said: “If you had known what Curly intended to do with your car would you have let him drive off in it?”
Owen said: “Definitely not.”
Calls from Owen to Chapman later in the evening were him “chasing the drugs up”, he said.
The jury was told Owen retrieved his car from the car park near Chapman’s home the following morning after texting him and phoning him.
He said he noticed there were jump leads in the back of the car and a scratch on the front.
He spoke to Chapman over the phone the following day, he said.
He told the court: “I discussed the jump leads which he said he didn’t want back. We also discussed the scratch because I was fuming.”
Owen said when he was arrested on January 19 2023 he tried to assist police by telling them there could be fingerprints on the jump leads and suggesting they look at the sat nav on his car.
When he was interviewed by police, Owen told them he had never bought drugs from anyone by the name of Connor Chapman.
He told the court: “I didn’t know who he was, I just knew him as Curly.”
Owen denies one count of assisting an offender.
Roxanne Matthews, 34, of Noctorum, Wirral, denies three counts of assisting Chapman, Danielle Dowdall, 34, of Woodchurch, denies one count and Chapman’s uncle David Chambers, 43, of no fixed abode, denies two counts of the charge.
The trial will continue on Monday.
