Sean Zeisz “actively and intentionally encouraged” the shooting of Ashley Dale in her own home in 2022
Sean Zeisz “actively and intentionally encouraged” the shooting of Ashley Dale in her own home in 2022
Sean Zeisz has failed in his bid to overturn his Ashley Dale murder conviction after his lawyers claimed his personal disputes didn’t extend beyond a “cuckolded love triangle”. Zeisz was sentenced to a minimum of 42 years in prison for “actively and intentionally encouraging” the shooting of Ms Dale, who was murdered inside her own home on Leinster Road in Old Swan on August 21, 2022.
During a high-profile trial at Liverpool Crown Court jurors were told gunman James Witham and “driver” Joseph Peers were “dispatched” to Leinster Road to assassinate Ms Dale’s boyfriend Lee Harrison and “leave no witnesses” under orders from Niall “Branch” Barry and Zeisz.
The trial heard “certain events at Glastonbury Festival” in June 2022 played an important role in the motive behind the attack, which included an associate of Harrison assaulting Zeisz before the fronted future killer’s then partner, Olivia “Liv” McDowell, stayed with a man called Jordan “Dusty” Thompson, who she later began a relationship with.
The prosecution told the trial that Zeisz “felt deeply humiliated” by what happened and Barry used the events to “reignite” an old feud against Harrison which put in place a chain of events which resulted in the assassination plot against Ms Dale’s partner. But at the Court of Appeal this morning, Thursday, Zeisz’s legal team said their client’s animosities didn’t extend beyond Ms McDowell and Thompson – a “significant” member of the Hillsiders crime group, which had at one time robbed drugs from a stash house belonging to Barry.
Tim Forte KC, for Zeisz, told the court voice notes between Ms Dale and her friends discussing the ongoing “beefs” should not have been admitted as evidence because they were “capable of misleading the jury”. He argued the prosecution “added their own gloss and spin” and presented the messages as a “complex network of interwoven frictions that were not there”.
Mr Forte said the evidence was “hearsay” and Zeisz’s defence team could not challenge Ms Dale’s interpretation of events during the criminal trial. He told the court today: “This was Ms Dale’s assessment of what Mr Zeisz was thinking. It’s nothing said or done by Mr Zeisz.”
Mr Forte told the court that the voice notes were presented to the trial jury as “clear and contemporaneous evidence about the growing tension between Barry and Harrison; this is accurate”. But he said there was evidence that Zeisz, Harrison and Ms Dale were still socialising post-Glastonbury.
Mr Forte said the crown “never satisfactorily answered why Mr Zeisz would be in a plan to kill Mr Harrison and Ms Dale instead of Dusty and Ms McDowell”. He added: “The sides are very simple. It’s Liv and Dusty and Mr Zeisz. The prosecution sought to put Mr Harrison alongside Dusty.”
The defence continued: “There is no extrinsic evidence that Lee Harrison was in any way involved…the messages were consistent that Mr Zeisz was angry for his girlfriend’s betrayal but not with Lee Harrison.” Mr Forte said Zeisz’s animosity amounted to a “cuckolded boyfriend” and there was “no evidence this applicant had any issue outside the love triangle”.
However, the court heard Zeisz, who had threatened to “throw p***” over Ms McDowell and paid someone to stab her tyres, had told her to “choose what side she was on because anyone around her would get it as well”.
Zeisz’s legal team also tried to introduce new evidence from Kallum Radford, who appeared in the dock with Zeisz in 2023 accused of assisting an offender in relation to allegedly storing the Hyundai car used in the murder. The Court of Appeal heard the evidence was not available during the trial because Mr Radford was a defendant and could not be called as a defence witness by Zeisz.
The court heard the evidence amounted to a written statement because Mr Radford would not appear in person because of the imminent birth of his second child and “pressure from others”. The court heard Mr Radford had originally told police during his first interview that one of the men in the Hyundai was someone referred to as “Z or Zest”, a nickname used by Zeisz.
The court heard Mr Radford had backtracked on this assertion in his later police interviews. Zeisz’s legal team submitted the fresh evidence formed grounds for an appeal as it undermined the involvement of the applicant in the disposal of the Hyundai.
Zeisz’s legal team also challenged the length of their client’s sentence. Adam Davis KC told the court that Zeisz was also sentenced for conspiracy to murder Harrison; conspiracy to possess a prohibited weapon with intent to endanger life; and drugs offences as well as Ms Dale’s murder.
He told the court the starting point for murder with a firearm was 30 years but the presiding judge, Mr Justice Goose, had been “manifestly excessive” in the uplift of his final sentence. Mr Davis told the court his submission was “the total aggravation…was disproportionate”.
Lord Justice Baker, presiding with Mr Justice Soole and Mr Justice Dias, told the court the prosecution’s case was “the intended target was Lee Harrison who Niall Barry and the applicant, Zeisz, held a grudge airing from earlier events and although Niall Barry and the applicant remained in a flat on Pilch Lane, they had organised the shooting to take place with others.
“The earlier events that generated the ill feeling included the following. Firstly, on an earlier occasion a quantity of drugs was stolen from Niall Barry by the Hillsiders organised crime group, which included Jordan Thompson, who was a prominent member, and his friend Lee Harrison, who was associated.
“Secondly, the applicant had attended the Glastonbury Festival with his girlfriend, Olivia McDowell. Others had attended including Ashley Dale, Lee Harrison and Jordan Thompson. While there the applicant had been assaulted and while in his tent Olivia McDowell remained with the others.
“The applicant became aware that she had been seen with her arms around Jordan Thompson and would later commence a relationship with him. Thirdly, on July 21, 2022, a close friend of the applicant, Rikki Warnick, had committed suicide and it was believed by the applicant that it was caused by his friend being bullied by Jordan Thompson, who had called him a grass.”
Lord Justice Baker said shortly before the shooting Zeisz stayed in contact with Peers via phone. After the shooting had been carried out he again tried to contact him and the pair had a short phone call. Peers and Witham returned to the flat on Pilch Lane where Barry and Zeisz were and remained until shortly before 11am.
Zeisz then stayed in contact with Peers later that day ahead of the movement of the Hyundai. When the vehicle was eventually disposed of Zeisz’s and Peers’ phones were both off. Police later searched the Pilch Lane flat on August 29 and found a jacket worn by Witham during the shooting which had both his and Zeisz’s DNA on.
The three judges refused both Zeisz’s conviction and sentence challenges.
Regarding the voice notes evidence, Lord Justice Baker said: “We have considered the material for ourselves and we are satisfied that the judge was justified in admitting various items of hearsay evidence in the trial and that no unfair prejudice arose from its submission.”
The three judges said during the trial it was not suggested by the prosecution that Zeisz was in the Hyundai during the disposal and the applicant called his mum, Angela Jones, to give evidence to support his assertion that he had not been physically present because he was having Sunday lunch at her house. The judges declined to receive the new evidence from Mr Radford.
The presiding judges determined that Zeisz’s sentence was “severe” but not excessive and found it was a consequence of what the defendant had done. They found the length of the sentence was justified and refused the challenge.
Barry was sentenced to 47 years in prison; Witham was jailed for a minimum term of 43 years and Peers was told he must serve at least 41 years behind bars before he will become eligible for release. Sentencing judge Mr Justice Goose said: “The use of a military grade submachine gun to kill a young woman in her own home at night in a planned shooting is beyond any understanding.”
