Four men have been sentenced to more than 40 years each for murdering the 28-year-old in Liverpool last August.

Ms Dale's boyfriend, a drug dealer in a feud with a rival gang, was the target but he wasn't at the house when James Witham forced his way in.

Ms Dale was standing by the back door and was hit in the abdomen as he sprayed 10 bullets from a sub-machine gun.

Witham then headed upstairs and shot five more bullets into a bedroom as a warning.

In a personal statement read in court, her father Steven Dunne said he'd been woken by police in the early hours on 21 August.

"I remember shouting 'no' for a long time at the top of my voice; I couldn't believe it - history had repeated itself," he said.

"My son, Lewis Dunne, had been shot dead seven years previous at only 16 years of age.

"He was shot at close range in the back with a shotgun in a case of mistaken identity; an innocent victim caught in the middle of a gang feud.

"It had been a long seven years of pulling myself out of some very dark - and at times, lonely - places, trying to put my life back together."

His victim statement - which was read by a barrister - said: "Ashley is the oldest of my three children, Lewis the youngest - both are now deceased."

Mr Dunne spoke about how his daughter was a "beautiful, intelligent, charismatic, career-driven, and family-orientated young woman" who managed to complete her degree in environmental health despite suffering PTSD after her brother's murder.

"I am now sitting with my one remaining child, having been put through the trauma of yet another trial, listening to those verdicts being read out in relation to Ashley's murder," said Mr Dunne.

"I have lost another child; a victim of big egos running around the city with powerful guns, involved in petty feuds and killing innocent people."

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Ms Dale's father described the pain of his first Christmas without his daughter.

He said he stayed inside with the curtains closed "listening to songs Ashley enjoyed; grieving, crying, and contemplating dark thoughts of whether I can live this life anymore".

"It was the first time in my life that I experienced what it actually felt like when someone can't go on," he said.

"But I knew I had to for my daughter, my grandson, and my family; I also knew I had to see justice done for Ashley."

'Dying alone in a cold wet backyard'

Ms Dale's mother confronted her daughter's killers and read her own statement - with gunman Witham running out of court when she addressed him directly.

Family and friends were in tears when she spoke and there were gasps when the sentences were delivered.

Julie Dale recalled the "dreaded knock that no parent or family should ever have to get" when police told her that her daughter was dead.

"My life might as well have ended there too. Those three little words had just turned my lights out forever; time has since stood still," she said.

"Another sound no mother should hear.

"The screams of my baby girls when I told them something awful had happened to their big sister, and she had passed away.

"The inconsolable cries of a seven and 12-year-old, whose lights had also just been switched off."

Julie Dale recalled the "unthinkable" process of identifying her daughter behind glass in a mortuary and later choosing a coffin and an outfit for her to wear.

She spoke about the pain of the trial and hearing the "most horrific details of how my perfect girl was left terrified asking for help, dying alone in a cold wet backyard".

"I hate that I won't see her get married, have children and deliver her babies, become Nanny 'Julie' or grow old together like we always joked about," she added.

"Often being mistaken for sisters as we were only 16 years apart. Trying to fill that void, as we spoke every day sharing everything."

Addressing the "monsters" responsible for her murder, she told them they had "ruined your own lives and your family's lives".

She said: "I hope my words haunt you all forever and you James Witham; I hope when you go to sleep at night you too see my baby girl's face as I do every single night."

Her statement ended: "For my Ash, my baby girl, forever 28. I love you. I miss you. Until we meet again, Mum."