Ashley Dale: 'My murdered daughter's friends wouldn't help police'
The mother of a woman who was murdered in her own home has told how her daughter's friends refused to help detectives after her death as she urged other people to give police information or "it's never going to change".Ashley Dale, 28, was killed by men who were involved in a drug feud with her boyfriend Lee Harrison in her Liverpool home in the early hours of 21 August 2022. Her mum Julie said after "some soul-searching" she had "put herself in those girls shoes" and realised they were scared to speak up. But she said there were "ways to give information" and urged others to co-operate with police .
Four men were jailed for life for Ms Dale's murder. James Witham, 41,who fired the Skorpion sub-machine gun, Joseph Peers, 29, Niall Barry, 26, and Sean Zeisz, 28, were convicted at Liverpool Crown Court.Harrison, now 27, who was jailed in February for drugs trafficking, had also been "totally uncooperative" with the murder inquiry, the trial heard.The jury heard Ms Dale's own voice describing the falling out between her partner and Barry, as voice notes which she recorded and sent to friends in the two months before her murder.The WhatsApp voice notes that helped solve a murderBut Julie Dale said the same close friends had not been willing to go to court. "People held back on stuff and it's difficult because I've had to - again after soul-searching – try and put myself in those girls' shoes and I know people are scared," she said."But there are ways that you can give information because if we don't do that, it's never going to change."
Ms Dale has been working with Knowsley Council – where her daughter worked as an environmental health officer - to launch the Be the Change scheme to help steer girls and women away from those involved in serious crime.It involves sessions, funded by the Violence Reduction Partnership, which aim to empower women to reclaim their communities. Francine McKeown, crime and communities manager at the authority, said: "In and around violence and organised crime, there's always a mum, a daughter, a sister, a girlfriend. "And actually most people want to live peaceful, happy lives – free from violence."
Some of the women who attended sessions were asked by BBC Breakfast about speaking up. "It feels safer almost to hide away and not speak out and just keep yourself to yourself, " one woman said. Another added: "I think it's just because you feel like you protect your family by not speaking out."Fitness instructor Lauren Ruane said: "You look around the community, there's 100% more good people than bad, but it's when the bad dominates through fear and we're trying to break that cycle."When you bring women and mums together, I genuinely do believe that magic happens - a real ripple effect goes back out into the community."
Confidence boost
Ms Dale has been sharing her daughter's experiences with young women and girls to deter them from making poor relationship choices, saying: "I can't let her death be in vain.""Ashley was just a totally normal woman – she had never been involved with the police, had a job, had been to university, got a degree, had just been promoted. "Yet she wasn't immune to this."Councillor Shelley Powell said: "We've all got to be the change - steer people in a different direction to give people the confidence to not tolerate the bad things going on."
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