The family of a 26-year-old woman have been left “devastated” and “inconsolable” after she was killed in a Christmas Eve shooting at a pub in Merseyside, police have said in a fresh appeal for information.
Officers said the woman, who was shot in the head, is not believed to have been targeted in the shooting, which also left four others injured – one of them critically.
The incident happened at the Lighthouse Inn in Wallasey Village on the Wirral shortly after 11.50pm on Christmas Eve.
Detective Superintendent Sue Coombs told a news conference on Christmas Day: “Tragically the victim, a 26-year-old woman, had suffered a serious gunshot injury to her head.
“She was taken to Arrowe Park Hospital but sadly passed away shortly afterwards.
“Her family have been informed, and on today, which should be a day with friends celebrating, they are coming to terms with this tragic loss.
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“It’s very early stages of the investigation, but we do not believe that the victim in this case has been targeted. She was out enjoying Christmas with her sister and friends at what should have been a peaceful time.
“What her family are now going through is incomprehensible.”
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Merseyside Police’s assistant chief constable Jenny Sims said the actions of the gunman were “totally and utterly reckless”, and that the person or people responsible need to be caught.
She added: “We’ve already had an overwhelming response from the public following the murder, particularly from people who were in the pub last night, but we do need more information so that we can find those responsible for this callous murder.
“Our investigation will rely heavily on information we receive from the public, and I urge members of the public and the local community who have any information which could help us come forward, so we can bring those responsible for this horrific murder of a young woman at Christmas to justice.
“She should have had the rest of her life to look forward to – instead, her family can now only think of what might have been.”
DS Coombs said the gunman fired shots towards the front entrance of the Lighthouse Inn in Wallasey Village, before making off in a dark vehicle, possibly an A-Class Mercedes Benz.
Four others were also injured, including a 28-year-old man who remains in a critical condition in hospital.
A 22-year-old man received leg injuries, a 24-year-old man sustained a hand injury, and a 33-year-old man suffered an injury to his wrist. None of these injuries are thought to be life-threatening.
‘It was really calm – that’s how I knew it was bad’
Molly Mason, who lives near to the pub, told Sky News the scene appeared to be “calm and collected” – which told her something bad happened.
“Our living room was just blue from flashing blue” [emergency service lights], she said. “I looked out the window and I just saw loads of police sirens coming this way, an ambulance and just a flow of hundreds of [people], just coming out of the pub coming this way down – it was really silent and really calm and collected.
“I think there was a lot of shock. You could just sort of sense that in the moment – that’s the reason I know this is bad. It’s because there’s no drama. No one’s been dramatic, no one screaming, crying.
“It was a state of shock.”
The pub called the shooting “a tragedy beyond words” in a statement, adding: “All our thoughts are with the friends and family of our customers and in particular our hearts go out to the family of our customer who has lost her life.
“We are completely shocked by this and were expecting to host a number of people for Christmas Day meals, but sadly this is no longer possible.”
The MP for Wallasey, Dame Angela Eagle, described the news as “heartbreaking” and urged anyone with information to contact the police.
She tweeted: “My thoughts are with the family of the woman who has died and those who are injured.”
The pub is “central” to the local community, the minister at a nearby church said.
Footage of the moment 10-year-old Sara Sharif’s alleged killers were detained after police boarded their plane back to the UK has been played in court.
As they are approached by officers, Sara‘sstepmother Beinash Batool is heard saying: “I think you’re looking for us.”
Batool, 30, Sara’s father Urfan Sharif, 42, and uncle Faisal Malik, 29, are accused of carrying out a campaign of abuse against her culminating in her death at her family home in Surreyon 8 August last year.
The defendants, along with five of Sara’s siblings, aged between one and 13, flew to Pakistanthe following day.
Sara’s body was found by police in a bunkbed on 10 August after Sharif called police from Pakistan to say he had beaten her “too much” for being “naughty”.
A murder investigation was launched involving agencies including Interpol and the National Crime Agency to locate the defendants.
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They returned to the UK on a flight from Dubai to Gatwick Airport on 13 September.
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‘I beat her up too much’
The clips of officers’ body-worn video shown to the jury on Friday captured the moment police boarded the plane and detained the defendants at 7.42pm, seven minutes after touchdown.
After Batool addresses the officers, Sharif, who had been sitting next to her, is asked to follow them.
The three were then taken off the plane and arrested.
A post-mortem examination established Sara had sustained extensive and significant injuries over a sustained period prior to her death.
The jury heard on Friday how concerns were raised by Sara’s school about bruising on her body in June 2022 and March 2023.
Several items seized from Sara’s home were also reviewed by the court, including a leather belt which had full DNA samples at both ends for Sara, Sharif, and Malik.
A cricket bat was also found to have Sara’s DNA profile on it, along with the DNA samples of Sharif and Malik.
Neither item had a DNA trace of Batool.
The court also reviewed the defendants’ bank accounts – both joint and separate.
All three defendants have pleaded not guilty to murder and causing or allowing the death of a child.
Six teenagers have been arrested after a 13-year-old girl was found with multiple stab wounds on a roadside near Hull.
Police said she was found around 6.50am on the A63 in Hessle with “life-threatening injuries” including “lacerations to her neck, abdomen, chest and back”.
Four boys and two girls – aged between 14 and 17 – were quickly arrested in a nearby wooded area and are being questioned on suspicion of attempted murder.
Members of the public came to the girl’s aid before emergency services arrived, Humberside Police said.
Detective Superintendent Simon Vickers said they “believe the attackers knew the victim” and the circumstances are still being investigated.
“The girl remains in hospital in critical condition and her family are being supported by officers at this difficult time,” he added.
The boys arrested are aged 14, 15, 16 and 17, and the girls 14 and 15.
Cordons are in place around a wooded area off Ferriby High Road while investigations continue.
Police said they would have an increased presence in the area over the weekend and have asked anyone with information or video to get in touch, or contact Crimestoppers anonymously.
A former soldier has told a jury his escape from Wandsworth prison to avoid being held with sex offenders and terrorists showed his “skillset”.
Daniel Khalife, 23, who was being held accused of passing secrets to Iran said he was “never a real spy” but planned a fake defection to the state following his arrest after watching American television show Homeland.
He said he wanted to be moved to a high-security unit because he was getting unwanted attention from the sex offenders on the vulnerable prisoners wing and feared a move to Belmarsh prison because, as a British soldier, terrorists wanted to kill him.
Khalife said he first wanted to “make a show” of escaping, acting suspiciously and covering himself in soot from a food delivery lorry on 21 August last year, while he was working in the prison kitchen.
He was spotted and reported to security but was “pretty shocked” when nothing happened so decided to take the “full measure,” he told the jury.
Talking about his escape for the first time at his Woolwich Crown Court trial, Khalife told how he fashioned a makeshift sling from kitchen trousers and carabiners used by inmates to keep their possessions safe from rats.
He attached it to the Bidfood lorry on 1 September last year, to see if it would be spotted by officers at Wandsworth or other prisons on the delivery route.
“I put the two carabiners and the makeshift rope underneath the lorry,” he said.
“When I had made the decision to actually leave the prison I was going to do it properly so I tested the security not just in Wandsworth
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“Strangely, over the coming days, I could see it but it wasn’t spotted in Wandsworth or any other prison.”
Then on the morning of 6 September, Khalife said he concealed himself underneath the lorry, resting his back on the sling as the lorry was searched.
“They did normal checks around with torches but they didn’t find me. After that, a governor came to the tunnel and said, ‘Have you searched the vehicle?’
“I was facing upwards. There was action around the lorry.”
He said that when the vehicle stopped he “came out underneath the lorry and stayed in the prone position” until the lorry moved off.
Khalife, who joined the Army aged 16 and took up a post with the Royal Signals, based in Beacons barracks, Staffordshire, said he made no attempt to leave the country and had no intention to “run away” from the charges he was facing.
He was arrested three days later on the footpath of the Grand Union Canal in Northolt, west London, after a nationwide manhunt.
Asked why he had not handed himself in after his escape, Khalife said: “I was finally demonstrating what a foolish idea it was to have someone of my skillset in prison. What use was that to anyone?”
“I accept that I left the prison and didn’t have any permission to do so,” he said. “I accept absolutely that I shouldn’t have done what I did.”
Inspired by Homeland
The court has heard Khalife initiated contact with Iranian intelligence officers after he was told he could not pass developed vetting because his mother was born in Iran.
Khalife told MI5 he wanted to be a “double agent” and he said in court he thought he would be “congratulated” but described his arrest as like a “punch in the face”.
Wearing a blue checked shirt and chinos, he said police were “blinded at the prospect of a successful prosecution” but he did not think being in prison would be in “the public interest”.
“I didn’t do anything that harmed our national security. I wanted to put myself in a position where I could help my country,” he said.
“I believed I could continue my work actually located in the state – the state being Iran.”
Khalife said he took inspiration from watching Homeland, starring Claire Danes and Damian Lewis, in which Americans and terrorists go undercover, on Netflix.
“I had seen one of the characters in the programme had actually falsely defected to a particular country and utilised that position to further the national security interests of that character’s country,” he said.
“The country in question, Iran, thought it was real. She did it to further the interests of her own country.”
Khalife told jurors he is a “patriot”, adding: “I do love my country. All I wanted to do was help. I never wanted to do any harm, I never did do any harm.”
He added: “It is tragic it has come to this and I would do anything to go back to my career.”
Khalife, from Kingston, southwest London, denies a charge of committing an act prejudicial to the safety or interests of the state under the Official Secrets Act between 1 May 2019 and 6 January 2022.
He has also pleaded not guilty to a charge under the Terrorism Act of eliciting information about Armed Forces personnel on 2 August 2021, perpetrating a bomb hoax on or before 2 January 2023 and escaping from prison on 6 September last year.