A MAN has appeared in court charged with murdering a council worker who was shot dead outside her home.

Ashley Dale, 28, was blasted in her back garden in the Old Swan area of Liverpool on August 21 last year.

Ian Fitzgibbon has been charged with murder after being extradited to the UK from Spain.

The 28-year-old is also accused of conspiracy to murder Lee Harrison, possession of a prohibited weapon (sub-machine gun pistol and ammunition) with intent to endanger life, and conspiracy to possess a prohibited weapon (sub-machine gun and ammunition).

He appeared at Liverpool Magistrates' Court today where he spoke only to confirm his name, address and date of birth.

Fitzgibbon gave his address as St Helens but resides in Dubai, according to the court list.

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He was remanded into custody to next appear at Liverpool Crown Court on Tuesday.

The defendant is the fifth man to be charged with Ashley's murder, with Sean Zeisz, 27, Niall Barry, 26, James Witham, 41, and Joseph Peers, 28, due to stand trial on October 2.

Ashley was killed in what police believe was a case of mistaken identity.

The tragedy came just seven years after her brother Lewis Dunne was killed by drug dealers aged just 16.

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He was also not the intended target of the shooting in a cruel echo of Ashley's 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."

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