Dad told court Connor Chapman was his ‘best client’

The full-time plumber, who was previously in the army, told the court on Friday he would spend up to £200 a week on illegal substances and said of his first meeting with Chapman: “He used to walk past my house. He said he would go to his grandparents’ house every day, look after them.”

“I was cutting the grass in front of my house when he walked by and he had a joint in his hand. I could smell it. He was smoking. I said jokingly, ‘oh, give us some’. From there, I continued to buy drugs from him.”

Owen said he only became aware Curly was Chapman after his own arrest and that he had not “connected” him with Miss Edwards’ death before that, describing him as “always very polite”. His lawyer, Christopher Stables, asked him: “During the period from Christmas Eve until January 19, when you were arrested, did he say or do anything that would give you any idea that he was involved in what happened with Ms Edwards?” He replied: “Nothing. He looked very calm. Like he was just going about his day job, like he always did.”

Owen said Chapman had driven home from the pub before and told the jury: “I would drop him off in the Horse and Jockey car park. On occasions I asked Curly to lift the car for me.”

“Do you know why you did this?” He answered the question, “Maybe because I am his best customer.” Owen texted Chapman on the afternoon of New Year’s Eve 2022, asking “can you do me three for one, mate,” which he stated was “about the drug purchase” and “about the amount he wanted.”

He was later seen on CCTV arriving at the bar with his partner in his Mercedes at around 6.30pm; It was during this time that he spoke to the landlord and was informed that “at midnight there would be fireworks to celebrate the New Year” and “something would be done for it”. It might be a good idea to move the car.” Later, after speaking to Chapman on the phone, his dealer walked to the property.

Owen said: “It was an 18-second phone call in which I asked him if he could come and move my car to my partner’s property. When he arrived, I went to meet him in the parking lot of my car. I went around to the passenger side, handed him my keys and some money.”

This money, he reported, was for “drugs” that Chapman would “return with.” Owen added: “We started going out with Curly driving. He pulled up outside the bar so I left and went to spend the rest of the night with my partner.”

Owen texted Chapman later in the evening, telling her to “be careful, bacon everywhere.” He said: “Someone from the Horse and Jockey pub had shown me on social media that the police were all over our property. Actually, I was warning him. I thought he had drugs on him. I didn’t want him to get caught.”

Mr Stables told him: “Meanwhile Chapman went in convoy to Frodsham to burn the Mercedes used in the murder.” Owen responded: “I had no idea. I wouldn’t have texted him.”

A series of texts and calls sent to Chapman showed he was “still after drugs”, jurors were told. He said of the 1 minute 11 seconds conversation at one stage in the evening: “That was probably because I was being a bit meaner to him asking where my drugs were and finding out how long it was going to take.”

Owen later recalled leaving the Horse and Jockey around 1am and walking home that evening without seeing his supplier again. Mr Stables said to him: “When Curly left the Horse and Jockey car park in your car, where did you think your car was going?”

He replied: “I thought you were going to go down the road, pass the police station and park outside my partner’s address.”

Mr. Stables continued: “If you had known what Curly was planning to do with your car, would you have let him drive away?”

“Absolutely not,” Owen said.

Mr Stables concluded his questioning by asking: “Did you know that Curly was guilty of the murder of Elle Edwards, Mr Owen? Did you ever do anything to prevent or complicate the discovery of the murder?”

Owen answered both questions: “Absolutely not. No.”

Katy Appleton, prosecuting, then returned to the subject of her first meeting with Chapman during cross-examination. He told her: “You said you asked ‘give us some’. That’s what you said to him. How did he react since you had never spoken to each other before?”

Owen recalled that he “just grinned and carried on.” When asked “how this interaction with him came about because he was a drug dealer”, Ms Appleton said: “I asked him to buy me some drugs. I don’t remember if that happened but I asked him for help. During the conversation he said he could get me drugs.”

He said he had “never” used drugs before this but had “progressed” to buying cocaine from Chapman. However, Owen said he stopped using the phrase “just after Christmas” and said: “After hearing what happened to Elle Edwards, that was enough.”

“That was of course after New Year’s, when I found out Mr Chapman was involved. That was enough for me to stop. I’ve been clean ever since.”

When Miss Appleton asked him if he was “happy with Connor Chapman doing what he wanted to do with his vehicle”, Owen replied: “No. I wasn’t aware he was going to Frodsham.”

He was also accused of “warning him about the police” in the text that said “bacon everywhere”, but he said: “I was warning him, there were police everywhere. I didn’t know he had my car. I wouldn’t let him do that in Frodsham.”

Miss Appleton then played CCTV from inside the bar shortly after midnight, which showed her “greeting and shaking hands” with a man named Kane Weston, then “putting her hand on his back and guiding him into the bar”. He was said to be an “associate of Thomas Waring” who had previously been convicted of assisting an offender in relation to murder.

But Owen said of Mr Weston: “I recognized his face from the pub. I had no idea who Thomas Waring was and I still don’t. In the video you can clearly see me saying Happy New Year and ushering him into the pub. It was literally seconds.”

Ms Appleton also said: “Do you accept that no messages were sent to Connor Chapman expressing your anger at him about why he did not return to the pub with the drugs for you?”

Owen responded: “It’s not in the messages, no. But I harass him all the time for drugs.”

When asked if he checked “where his car was” when he returned home, he said: “No, I didn’t think of it. I just assumed it would be somewhere on the street.”

Ms Appleton also asked him if he “noticed the car keys were not on the doormat” at the time. Owen replied: “I didn’t realize it at the time because I was too drunk. We always went in the back door. I went straight upstairs to bed.”

He was later told that he “didn’t mind his expensive car”. But Owen responded: “He’s insured, so he’s fully insured and he’s got a tracking device on him.”

Dowdall, 34 years old and tree churchHe denies the charge of aiding an offender. Matthews, also 34, from Noctorum, pleaded not guilty to three charges against him for the same offence.

Chambers, 43, of no fixed address, denied two charges of assisting an offender, while Owen, of Woodchurch, pleaded not guilty to one charge. The hearing before Mr Justice Morris continues.