Four men were today found guilty of the brutal murder of a council worker 'mercilessly' chased through her home and blasted with a submachine gun due to her partner's alleged feud with criminal rivals.
Hitman James Witham, 41, his driver Joseph Peers, 29, and Niall Barry, 26, and Sean Zeisz, 28 - who orchestrated the murder from a nearby flat - face life sentences for the killing of Ashley Dale, 28, in August last year.
Ian Fitzgibbon, 28, was also accused of helping to organise the killing but was found not guilty of all charges.
The case is believed to be the first in British legal history to use the recorded testimony of the victim from beyond the grave – in the form of hundreds of voice notes sent by Ashley to her friends describing the feud – to secure convictions.