A third man has been charged in connection with the murder of a council worker who was shot in her back garden last summer, Merseyside Police said.

Ashley Dale, 28, was found with a gunshot wound at her home in Old Swan, Liverpool, shortly before 1am on August 21.

She was taken to hospital but later died.

Kallum Radford, 25, of no fixed abode, has been charged with assisting an offender.

He is due to appear in custody at Wirral Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday.

Earlier on Tuesday, police said that James Witham, 40, of Ashbury Road, Huyton, and Joseph Peers, 28, of Woodlands Road, Roby, had been charged with murder and possession of a firearm with intent.

They appeared at Wirral adult remand court on Tuesday and are due to face Liverpool Crown Court on Thursday.

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

Her death was one of three gun killings within a week in Liverpool last year, with nine-year-old Olivia Pratt-Korbel killed in her home in Dovecot on August 22 and 22-year-old Sam Rimmer shot in Dingle on August 16.