Shadowy crime bosses behind infamous murders use Skorpion guns to control drugs

Skorpion submachine guns used in the murder of Ashley Dale and other killings are linked to crime bosses known as the Liverpool Mafia, detectives believe.

The network is part of a Dubai-based international cartel, allegedly including Dublin’s Kinahan crime organisation, which controls a supply of guns, cocaine, heroin and cannabis into the UK.

James Witham, 41, Joseph Peers, 29, Niall Barry, 26, and Sean Zeisz, 28, were sentenced to a total of 173 years in jail for the murder of innocent 28-year-old council worker Ashley, who was gunned down in her garden in Liverpool last summer.

READ MORE: Ashley Dale killers begged their mums to help them get away with murder

A court heard how Witham fired rounds from a Skorpion weapon.

And last Christmas Eve, Connor Chapman, 23, fired one into a crowd outside a pub in Wallasey, Wirral, killing bystander Elle Edwards, 26.

• 

  Last family standing refuse to leave bulldozer-bound estate until demands are met

Merseyside Police believe Ashley’s killers are connected to the Liverpool Mafia.

Associates of Chapman’s Wirral gang also have links with a Merseyside security boss known to run drugs and guns for the group.

• 

  'Breakbone fever' fears have health bosses lining UK with traps for mosquito invasion

A source close to an investigation involving Merseyside Police, the Regional Crime Squad and the National Crime Agency said they had operations in place to monitor “every move” of the Liverpool Mafia’s “bigger players” who are still free.

• 

  Everything we know about 'polar plume' set to batter UK with snow before Christmas

The source added: “These networks are likely to be involved in the supply and distribution of military-grade firearms like the Skorpion submachine guns used in a spate of killings on Merseyside.”

For more shocking stories from the Daily Star, make sure you sign up to one of our newsletters here

Source: Read Full Article