Ashley Dale death: Man charged with council worker’s murder after extradition from Spain

A man has been charged with murder following the fatal shooting of council worker Ashley Dale in Liverpool.

Ms Dale, 28, was found with a gunshot wound in her garden in the Old Swan area on 21 August last year.

Ian Fitzgibbon, also 28, has been charged with murder after being arrested by the Spanish National Police and then extradited to the UK, Merseyside Police said.

Fitzgibbon, from St Helens, was also charged with conspiracy to murder Lee Harrison, possession of a prohibited weapon [sub-machine gun pistol and ammunition] with intent to endanger life, and conspiracy to possess a prohibited weapon [sub-machine gun and ammunition].

He will appear at Liverpool Magistrates’ Court on Friday.

It brings the number of people charged with the murder of Ms Dale to five.

Sean Zeisz, 27, Niall Barry, 26, James Witham, 41, and Joseph Peers, 28, were charged with Ms Dale’s murder and are due to stand trial on 2 October.

At her funeral in September last year, Ms Dale was described by her family as a “rising star” who “had her whole life ahead of her”.

Ms Dale, an environmental health officer for Knowsley Council, is not believed to have been the intended target of the shooting.