Thugs GUILTY of murdering Ashley Dale with Skorpion gun after council worker shot in Glastonbury revenge hit on partner
A GANG of thugs have been found guilty of murdering a screaming council worker who was shot dead in a revenge hit on her boyfriend.
Ashley Dale, 28, was blasted "deliberately and mercilessly" with a Skorpion sub-machine gun in a cold-blooded killing.
The council worker screamed "get the f**k out" at gunman James Witham as she attempted to "run for her life".
Ashley managed to stagger into her back garden where she collapsed after a bullet tore through her abdomen causing "catastrophic" damage.
Witham then fired five bullets into the wall in Ashley's bedroom, which was a "firm message" to her boyfriend Lee Harrison.
The chilling crux of the warning was that Lee had been the "principle target" of the brutal attack and should be lying dead alongside his girlfriend.
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Witham, 41, Niall Barry, 26, Sean Zeisz, 28, and Joseph Peers, 28, have today been convicted of murder.
They were also convicted of conspiracy to murder Ms Dale's partner Lee Harrison and conspiracy to possess a prohibited weapon, a Skorpion sub-machine gun, and ammunition.
Ian Fitzgibbon, 28, was found not guilty of the three charges.
During a harrowing trial, tensions had boiled over after "trouble broke out" at Glastonbury in June 2022.
Ashley and Lee had attended the festival, as well as Zeisz, Barry - nicknamed "Branch" - Fitzgibbon and Witham.
Another group was also present that Lee, who has never helped towards the case, had an "association" with.
One of the members of that gang, Jordan "Dusty" Thompson, attacked Zeisz because the killer had been "arguing" with everyone.
This "deeply humiliating" attack had "reignited" a feud between his gang and Harrison that left Ashley fearing the worst.
Just weeks before her death, she told a pal: "I am looking over my shoulder all the time.”
On the night of August 21 last year, Lee had gone out with pals leaving Ashley alone in the house with their dog.
Her killers at first made an attempt to lure her outside by slashing the tyres of her Volkswagen T-ROC to trigger an alarm.
But Ashley sent a text at this time saying she believed the rain had set it off so she stayed inside where she was safe, or "so she no doubt thought".
As she continued messaging Lee about the alarm, he told her: "Hahahaha you think you’re in a horror movie”.
When she failed to respond, he asked "are you ok?" followed by: "Alive?"
Ashley replied: "No, I’m dead”.
Just moments later, Witham kicked the front door in to "kill [Harrison] and deal with anyone that got in their way".
She was then pursued by the gunman, who opened fire as she desperately tried to flee.
Tragically, she was found lying on the ground in her back garden "groaning in pain".
When police arrived, Witham had fled with Peers and stricken Ashley could not be saved.
Witham, who has admitted manslaughter, claimed he "never saw or heard Ashley" and said he shot her by accident.
He also moaned during his evidence that last year had been "torture" for him.
The gunman was snared by the brand new On Cloudflow trainers he had bought, which left a distinctive footprint on the front door he kicked in.
A bullet casing containing his DNA was also found under the bed at Ashley's home that was a "one in a billion" match.
The tragedy came just seven years after Ashley's brother Lewis Dunne was killed by drug dealers aged just 16.
He was also not the intended target of the shooting in a cruel echo of her killing.
The horror also unfolded just 48 hours before nine-year-old Olivia Pratt-Korbel was shot dead at her home in the city.
Following Ashley's death, her heartbroken family said: "None of this makes sense and our lives will never be the same again.
"A senseless crime that has torn a family apart."
All five defendants denied murdering Ashley and conspiracy to murder Lee Harrison and conspiracy to possess a prohibited weapon, a Skorpion sub-machine gun, and ammunition.
A sixth defendant, Kallum Radford, 25, of no fixed address, denied assisting an offender.
