Ashley Dale: Murder suspects held over garden shooting bailed

Three men arrested on suspicion of murdering a woman who was shot in her back garden have been bailed.

Ashley Dale, 28, died after she was found wounded in Old Swan, Liverpool, in the early hours of 21 August.

The men, aged 27, 35, and 40, were detained in Cumbria and Merseyside and were also held on suspicion of possession of a firearm.

A 57-year-old man arrested on suspicion of assisting an offender has been released under investigation.

The latest arrests brings the total number of suspects questioned to eight, police have said.

Two men previously arrested on suspicion of Ms Dale's murder and two women held on suspicion of assisting an offender also remain on bail.

Opening her inquest in August, Liverpool senior coroner Andre Rebello told Gerard Majella Courthouse that the environmental health officer was not believed to have been the intended target of the shooting.

He said the door of Ms Dale's Leinster Road home had been forced and she had been found lying unresponsive close to her mobile phone and several bullet casings in her back garden.

He added that until someone was caught and the process of law was applied to "this most heinous tragedy", her family would "struggle with a very difficult bereavement journey".

Speaking shortly after her death, Ms Dale's family described her as "a hard-working young woman who had her entire life ahead of her".

They said she had recently been promoted at her job with Knowsley Council, adding: "None of this makes sense and our lives will never be the same again."

Ms Dale was one of four people who were killed in a week on Merseyside.

Sam Rimmer, 22, was shot in Dingle on 16 August, while Karen Dempsey, 55, died in hospital after being stabbed in a pub car park on 22 August.

Later that day, nine-year-old Olivia Pratt-Korbel was shot dead in her home in Dovecot.

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