Ashley Dale’s killers revamped £2m dealing medication however…
- Ashley Dale was murdered in August 2022
Two of the killers of 28-year-old council worker Ashley Dale made a total of more than £2 million from drug dealing but have only been ordered to pay back £1 each.
Niall Barry and Sean Zeisz were described as being the ‘organisers’ of the gangland attack, which saw the 28-year-old council worker shot dead with a Skorpion submachine gun by James Witham in her own home on Leinster Road in Old Swan, Liverpool, in the early hours of August 21, 2022.
Barry, 27, and Zeisz, 28, were both convicted of her murder last November.
The men, both ordered to serve minimum terms of more than 40 years, were also sentenced for drugs supply offences and Barry was sentenced for possession of prohibited firearms and conspiracy to sell or transfer firearms.
In a proceeds of crime application hearing on Friday, Judge Denis Watson KC found Barry had benefited from crime by £1,580,800 and Zeisz had made £686,350.
Ashley Dale was murdered in 2022
Pictured: Niall Barry, who is among the four men convicted of Ms Dale’s murder
Sean Zeisz was also convicted of the murder of Ashley Dale in 2022
In both cases, the court found there were no available assets to seize so a confiscation order for the nominal amount of £1 was made.
An order was also made to deprive Barry of any interest in the Hyundai i30 used in the murder.
Alex Langhorn, prosecuting, said: ‘By the findings of the jury in that case, he clearly had control of it.’
Barry told the court: ‘It wasn’t mine.’
He was not represented by counsel after barrister Katy Appleton told the court she was withdrawing due to ‘professional embarrassment’
Barry, who was sentenced to life with a minimum of 47 years, was said to have been the ‘malign presence’ behind Ms Dale’s killing.
Family handout of Ashley Dale
Meanwhile, Gunman Witham was sentenced to a minimum of 43 years and Joseph Peers, 29, was jailed for at least 41 years for driving him to the scene of the murder.
The four were also found guilty of conspiring to kill Harrison and conspiring to posses a Skorpion submachine gun with ammunition with intent to endanger life.
The trial heard Ms Dale’s murder happened after a drug feud between Barry and her partner Lee Harrison, which was ‘re-ignited’ at the Glastonbury festival in June 2022.
Three years before the shooting, Mr Harrison had sided against Barry in a dispute over drugs which resulted in a bitter disagreement.
This comes after a new documentary broadcast last month looking into how Merseyside Police solved tge cases and brought the men to justice.
Last week marked the two-year anniversary of the social worker’s murder.
Gunman James Witham who killed Ashley Dale in 2022
Boyfriend Harrison, who was the intended target of the shooting, shared pictures of her on social media, including images of Ashley at Glastonbury Festival, where he clashed with gang rival Barry ahead of the murder, the Sun reported.
He added captions including ‘2years ash love n miss u sis’ and ‘2yr miss ye ash u was a real member hope ur in paradise happy miss u taken an angel from me feed a demon to u’.
An Instagram account in his name includes the bio words ‘Ashley my world forever’, along with a profile photo of the pair taking a selfie.
Ashley’s mother Julie Dale criticised Mr Harrison after the guilty verdicts for her daughter’s four killers, saying: ‘The way he’s acted since this has happened has been absolutely despicable – it really, really has.
In 2015 Ms Dale’s own brother Lewis was shot dead as he walked down a canal towpath in Vauxhall, north Liverpool.The 16-year-old was shot in the back in a case of mistaken identity.
