Four people have denied assisting the gunman who murdered Elle Edwards outside a Merseyside pub on Christmas Eve 2022.

Connor Chapman, 23, was found guilty last July of murdering the 26-year-old beautician when he fired a Skorpion submachine gun outside the Lighthouse pub in Wallasey Village, Wirral, shortly before midnight on December 24 2022.

David Chambers 42, Danielle Dowdall, 34, Paul Owen, 54, and Roxanne Matthews, 33, entered not guilty pleas when they appeared at Liverpool Crown Court on Monday charged with assisting an offender.

Matthews, of Noctorum, Wirral, who also uses the surname Rooney, will stand trial charged with two counts of assisting an offender by hiring a Volkswagen T-Cross and booking a lodge in Wales to be used by Chapman.

Chambers, of no fixed address, is charged with assisting Chapman by arranging for the hire of the Volkswagen T-Cross car.

Dowdall, of Woodchurch, Wirral, is alleged to have disposed of clothes worn by Chapman, and Owen, also of Woodchurch, is accused of assisting in disposing of a Mercedes A-Class car used by Chapman in the shooting.

Recorder of Liverpool Andrew Menary KC set a trial date for September 2, with the case estimated to last three to four weeks.

The defendants were given conditional bail ahead of a pre-trial hearing on June 3.

Chapman was jailed for a minimum of 48 years for the shooting, of which Ms Edwards was not the intended target.