A MAN is facing trial charged with the murder of 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 fromĀ Spain.
The 28-year-old appeared at Liverpool Crown Court today where his case was joined up with four other men accused of murdering Ashley.
He will now stand trial alongside Sean Zeisz, 27, Niall Barry, 26, James Witham, 41, and Joseph Peers, 28, on October 2.
Fitzgibbon 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).
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No plea was entered during today's hearing, which was attended by Ashley's mum and two other relatives.
Fitzgibbon, who was arrested by the Spanish National Police and extradited from Spain last Thursday, was remanded into custody.
The tragedy came just seven years after Ashley's brother Lewis Dunne was killed by drug dealers aged just 16.
He was not the intendedĀ targetĀ of the shooting.
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TheĀ horrorĀ also unfolded just 48 hours before nine-year-oldĀ Olivia Pratt-KorbelĀ 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 senselessĀ crimeĀ that has torn a family apart."
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