LIVERPOOL CRIME: Clio Groom charged with stabbing Sam Searson on Boxing Day

A WOMAN has been charged with stabbing a man who was badly beaten hours before the gun murder of Elle Edwards on Christmas Eve 2022.

Clio Groom, 20, appeared at Liverpool Magistrates' Court today (December 28 2023) to face a single charge of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm against Sam Searson.

The case was sent to Liverpool Crown Court to be heard on the 25th January 2024.

The pair are understood to have been in a relationship.

A Merseyside Police spokeswoman said: "We have charged a 20-year-old woman following reports a man was assaulted in the Wirral area. 

"We were contacted at 1.40pm on Tuesday 26th December following reports a man in his 30s had been assaulted at a property on New Chester Road in Rock Ferry and suffered puncture wounds to both legs and a slash injury to the shoulder. 

"The man, who suffered non-life threatening injuries, remains in hospital."

The force had earlier described the attack as targeted and said house-to-house and CCTV enquiries were being carried out in the local area.

Detective Inspector Emma Kerrigan said: “At this stage it appears the man was assaulted inside a property.

“We are carrying out house-to-house enquiries and speaking to neighbours to build a fuller picture of what has taken place.

“CCTV enquiries are also being carried out and we are keen to speak to anyone who was in the area of New Chester Road who saw or heard anything or has any information which could assist our enquiries to contact us.”

Anyone with information is asked to DM @MerPolCC or CrimestoppersUK anonymously on 0800 555 111 quoting reference number 23001320846.

Searson was beaten up on December 23, 2022, by two men from the Beechwood estate gang, Keiran Salkeld and Jake Duffy, with the attack recorded on a Ring doorbell camera and shared on social media.

The footage showed the two kicking, punching and stamping on Searson for about a minute.

The attack was referred to in evidence during the trial of Connor Chapman, 23, for the murder of Elle Edwards, outside the Lighthouse Pub, Wallasey Village, on Christmas Eve last year.

The jury heard the attack on Searson was a preliminary event that may have been the reason for Chapman opening fire at Salkeld and Duffy who were also outside at the time Elle was shot.

Chapman fired 12 shots from a Skorpion sub-machine gun, killing Elle, while Salkeld and Duffy and three others were injured.

Chapman was convicted of murder at Liverpool Crown Court in July and jailed for life with a minimum term of 48 years in prison.

Salkeld, 28, and Duffy, 22, were earlier jailed for the attack on Searson in February this year.