Tim Edwards, Elle Edwards’ father presented an emotional Victim Personal Statement at Liverpool Crown Court today.
In the statement, Tim said, “On the 24th December 2022, my daughter was doing what every young person should be doing at Christmas, enjoying herself in a pub with her sister and looking forward to a Christmas day with her family.
“That will never happen again, sadly her life was cut short and a granddaughter, daughter, sister, auntie and best friend was lost forever.
“As a daughter, she was the most caring and beautiful, happy person who would always put others before herself. As a child, she was the one who every kid went to for help or maybe just a hug sometimes.
“Her permanent smile would light up any room she entered, lifting the mood instantly. Elle would always greet you with a hug and ask “how you doing” making sure that you were OK, in reality, she gave the best hugs and that was always just enough to lift you if you were having a bad day.
“She always took her mum for her shopping and they would sit on the prom for hours with a coffee. I have no idea what they would talk about for so long but the two of them would always return home laughing as they came through the front door.
“Gaynor has not been able to face coming to court to sit through what we have had to listen to for the past 4 weeks but she wanted her voice heard and wrote the following paragraph herself:- First of all I want to know why you have done this? And what drove you to do this to my daughter, Since Elle has been gone I have never been the same. I can’t accept that she is gone and I still think she will come home. Elle looked after me as I suffered with my health and since Elle has been gone my health has deteriorated and I cannot put into words how much I miss and love her.
“As parents myself and Gaynor could not ask for more from all our children as they have all turned out exactly as we hoped and will always do us proud.
“Elle as an adult was trying her hardest to make something of herself and she was not afraid of taking on a challenge and always got to where she wanted to be.
“Just as her life was cut short she was reaching her peak and was the happiest I had ever seen her.
“Professionally she was achieving her goals and was at her peak she had such a bright future and was very positive about the future.
“As well as being a beautiful daughter Elle was a fantastic sister to Connor, Lucy, and George. The bond that the four of them had was and is unbreakable, as with all siblings there would be times, they would fall out usually over something silly, but these moments were very short-lived and very quickly the laughter would return.
“She would give all her spare time to each of her brothers and sister checking in on each one of them to make sure they were all OK.
“Elle did the same with her friends, Kirby, Connor’s partner and mother to our grandson was also, Elle’s best friend from a very early age, I will always remember the two of them dying their hair literally all the colours of the rainbow over time until eventually it went REALLY wrong, but again Elle would literally brush it off with a smile and a laugh and their friendship was as strong at the end as it always was.
“Elle, Lucy and Kirby would often go out together for nights out and I would always look forward to hearing what madness the three had got up to the night before.
“Elle also loved the company of her Grandparents and was always calling in to see her grandparents Marlene and Mokey in New Brighton, from birth it was her second home often to be found running back and forwards to the little park next to their house or running off with her cousins Chloe, Olivia, and her brother George off over to the Tower Grounds to explore the woods or play on the swings.
“All the things a young child should be doing, enjoying her young life with no fear or stress.
“Elle cared for her grandmother “nanny Sue” who is partially sighted and the two would often go out for afternoon tea or lunch somewhere and she always made sure her nan had a great day out and I know her nan would look forward to their days together.
“The same went for her other grandfather, George, when he came to the house to visit she would go out of her way to have a catchup with him and again my dad would leave with a laugh and a smile on his face, that was what she did.
“I can’t begin to try to explain the devastating effect an event like this has on your mental health, unfortunately only people who go through such an horrific experience can ever know how it feels and I hope the people in this room never have to experience what we as a family, as Grandparents, as Aunties and Uncles, as Cousins, as best friends are going through now and for the rest of our lives.
“We will all suffer mentally and it’s something none of us have asked for, we have been given a life sentence having committed no crime other than to love a beautiful human being who gave us double the love back.
“Whenever we celebrate any significant event such as birthdays, Easter, family celebrations, there will always be Elle missing so it will never feel like a wholesome time, it will always be sad because we know if she was there it was always going to be a great time full of laughter and cheer, that will forever be missing.
“We will always wonder what her children, our future grandchildren would have been like, we will never know. We will always wonder how her career would have turned out, we will never know. There are a lot more questions we will never get the answers to questions we should never be asking. We never asked for this punishment.
“We as a family have been made to sit through a court case and see and hear things that no one should ever have to experience, the detrimental effect this is going to have we are yet to see but it will not be good. Again a punishment we never asked for.
The events of Christmas Eve have impacted us in a huge number of ways from severe mental health issues which are a daily battle for all of us, the feeling of hopelessness. The feeling of loss of a child is so devastating that it really can’t be put into words the real effect it has and will for the rest of mine and Gaynor’s life.
“It is hard to focus on the future when no matter what we do there is nothing we can do to bring our daughter back but for as long as I live I will do my best to make sure her name, ELLE MARLENE EDWARDS, is never forgotten and people will always want to know what she was like and hopefully use her name going forward to help those who need it as that is what she would have done herself.
“Christmas will never be celebrated by myself. Gone has the point of Christmas as a time to be together because we never will “all be together” Elle will always be missing and the memories of Christmas 2022 will never be a good memory to share.”
Image: Elle Edwards/Family handout
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