Tim Edwards, 53, completed a cross-country walk in the aftermath of her death – and a ne documentary about the walk John May iis to be screened at the Raindance Film Festival
The father of Elle Edwards – shot dead outside a pub on Christmas Eve – believes her spirit is helping him cope with his grief. Tim Edwards, 53, who completed a cross-country walk in the aftermath of her death, says little signs appeared whenever he felt he could not go on.
He said: “You grab on to different signs that you hope is Elle watching over you. It was things like, there were always doves would randomly turn up or I’d be feeling a bit low and I’d be like ‘give us a sign Elle will you, give me something to pick me up’ and there’d always something random would appear.”
READ MORE: Dad of slain beautician Elle Edwards takes on gun gangs and says she’d think he was ‘bonkers’
Mr Edwards said his daughter, a beautician, would be “laughing her head off” to see what he had been doing. He said: “She’d be thinking ‘my dad is absolutely mental, what are you doing?”
Just days after Elle, 26, was killed in the shooting outside the Lighthouse pub in Wallasey Village, Wirral, on December 24 2022, grieving Tim got in touch with Liverpool actor John May, who was preparing to walk 874 miles from Lands End to John O’Groats as part of a campaign to end gun and knife crime.
Mr Edwards, 53, joined him for the walk at Worcester, initially just to “get out of town”, but ended up accompanying him all the way to the top of Scotland, later travelling down south to complete the first leg of the walk.
A documentary about their walk called The Two Of Us is to be screened at the Raindance Film Festival, which starts in London on Wednesday, (june 18) and the friends say it will tell a story of ‘brotherhood, grief and strength’.
Mr Edwards said he hoped the documentary would help people cope with the sort of appalling grief he has been through.
He added: “You’ll see that when times get really tough, as long you keep going and you keep having that little bit of hope and a bit of strength behind you, and the willingness to carry on and never give up, then you will come out alright the other side.
“I’ve been through the worst hell you can imagine but I can cope with the day-to-day now through those experiences of walking with John and walking through the country.”
Mr Edwards took on the walk before the trial of gunman Connor Chapman, who was targeting rivals in a gang feud when he opened fire outside the pub, and was sentenced to a minimum of 48 years after being found guilty of Ms Edwards’ murder.
Mr May, 43, said: “The documentary is not really about the walk, it’s more about friendship and about men’s mental health and grief and how we leaned on each other and perked each other up throughout the walk.
“It’s about brotherhood more than anything I’d say.”