The boyfriend of a woman who was killed in a shooting has admitted conspiracy to supply class A drugs.

Ashley Dale, 28, was killed when a gunman forced his way into her home in Old Swan, Liverpool, in August 2022 following a feud between her attackers and her boyfriend Lee Harrison, 27.

At Liverpool Crown Court on Monday, Harrison admitted conspiracy to supply heroin and crack cocaine and possessing cocaine with intent to supply.

He was arrested after a car was stopped by officers on Jennifer Avenue in Liverpool on November 25.

Appearing via videolink from HMP Liverpool, Harrison, wearing a long-sleeved Montirex top, and his co-accused Terence Rice, 36, could be seen smiling and laughing before the hearing began.

The court heard the two men were accused of conspiring with each other and “other persons unknown” to supply class A drugs between October 1 and November 26.

A trial last year heard Harrison, of Liverpool Road, Huyton, had been “totally unco-operative” with police following his partner’s murder.

Ms Dale, an environmental health worker for Knowsley Council, was shot by gunman James Witham, 42, who opened fire with a Skorpion submachine gun in her home in the early hours of August 21 2022.

Witham and three other men – Niall Barry, 28, Sean Zeisz, 29, and Joseph Peers, 30 – were convicted of her murder last year and all sentenced to minimum terms of more than 40 years.

Their trial heard a feud between Barry and Harrison, which started years before over the theft of drugs, was “re-ignited” at the Glastonbury festival in June 2022.

Voicenotes and messages sent to friends by Ms Dale in the two months before her death were played during the trial describing the fall-out.

At the hearing on Monday, Harrison entered a not guilty plea to a charge of possessing criminal property relating to a quantity of money, but Holly Menary, prosecuting, said the Crown would invite the court to lie it on the file.

She said: “This has been quite a pro-active investigation and it moved quite quickly following a stop in a car.”

Ms Menary asked for some time before sentencing due to the “sheer number of phones” seized.

Judge Brian Cummings KC adjourned the case for sentencing on February 21.

He said: “In the meantime you remain in custody. Any time you are spending in custody will count towards any sentence you receive.”

Harrison’s co-accused, Rice, of Bearwood Road, Kirkby, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply crack cocaine and heroin and will be sentenced on the same date.

Ms Dale’s mother Julie Dale previously described Harrison as “absolutely despicable”.

Speaking after the murder trial, she said: “We’ve had no remorse from him. We’ve had no support from him. We have no admittance that it’s anything to do with him.”

She added: “He still carries on going about his life, leaving the country, going on holidays, lording it up, shall we say, like nothing’s happened and nothing’s changed for him, and it’s absolutely disgusting, it really is.”