Adam Ellison murder: Who is shielding cowardly motorbike passenger

There are many - Adam's family and friends among them - who wonder how anybody shielding his murderer can sleep at night.

Adam Ellison, 29, was fatally wounded in the neck in the centre of Prescot, after an altercation with two people on a motorbike.

Despite a series of arrests during an investigation that spanned more than four years, and the offer of a £20,000 reward, no one has been convicted over the November 4, 2017 attack.

Adam Ellison

The former St Helens College student, who was a trainee supermarket manager, had been planning to get married.

He was stabbed by the pillion passenger of a green and white Kawasaki motorcycle in Market Place.

What happened on the night Adam died?

The Kawasaki motorbike rode into Prescot in the early hours and at about 12.30am the pillion passenger got off the bike and looked through the Old Mill pub.

The passenger got back on the rear of the bike and it was driven "at speed" down Eccleston Street to the junction with Market Place where it crossed Adam's path.

Adam, who was with a group of friends and cousins, shouted at them and the bike stopped, with the passenger getting off, heading towards Adam and stabbing him.

Adam died later in hospital.

The passenger was on Kawasaki a motorbike like this

Adam's anguished family

Adam's devastated family have spoken out on numerous occasions, appealing via the Star and on television programmes and documentaries.

His sisters Joanne Evans and Nicola Moore have fronted numerous appeals.

Speaking previously, Nicola said: "He was horrendously taken from us.

"You want to shout it from the rooftops 'how dare you walk around the streets'.

"You've murdered somebody. People know you have done it. How can they sleep at night?

"If it can happen to Adam - it can happen to anyone."

Sisters Joanne Evans and Nicola Moore with their mum Joyce

A BBC documentary Our Adam, which aired two years ago, described how the green and white Kawasaki connected with the fatal stabbing went back to the Hillside Avenue estate in Huyton afterwards.

'People on that estate know who was riding it'

Detective Chief Inspector Cath Cummings, the senior investigating officer from Merseyside Police, revealed to the BBC programme that the motorbike was ridden to the Hillside estate after the murder and has never been seen again.

Speaking in the documentry, she said:  "People on that estate know who was riding it, they know where that bike went and they know who was on it," she said.

"This isn't going away… this is by no means a cold-case murder investigation." 

The charity Crimestoppers - which is independent of the police and guarantees anonymity – continues to offer a reward of up to £20,000 for information they exclusively receive that leads to a murder conviction. 

'We know the answer lies in our communities' 

Police have made numerous appeals to trace the Kawasaki but it has never been found.

In a statement issued today to coincide with the seventh anniversary, Detective Chief Inspector Cath Cummings said: “It is heartbreaking that Adam’s finally have not had the justice they deserve.

“Seven years on from his death the pain of losing them is no less for his mum, dad and sisters and we continue to do whatever we can to support them, review the evidence and follow up any new lines of enquiry.

“We know, as is often the case, that the key to cracking this lies within our local communities. There are people out there who, for whatever reason, have chosen not to come forward and tell us what they know.

“It is to those people that I make this appeal – please search your conscience and put yourself in the shoes of a grieving family. If you have information which could assist please speak up.

“If you don’t want to speak to the police then you can pass on information anonymously via Crimestoppers but please don’t let those who are responsible for Adam’s death continue to walk our streets.”

Anyone with information which could assist the investigation into Adam’s murder can contact police via Public Portal (mipp.police.uk) or by calling 101 or DM @MerPolCC.

If you prefer not to speak to the police, you can stay anonymous and may be eligible for a reward by contacting Crimestoppers’ UK Contact Centre on freephone 0800 555 111 or by visiting crimestoppers-uk.org.  

Flowers at the spot where Adam was killed

With Crimestoppers, computer IP addresses are never traced and no-one will ever know you contacted them. For telephone calls, there is no caller line display, no 1471 facility and calls have never been traced.

Do you have a story for the Star? We cover the whole of the St Helens borough and surrounding areas. Contact kelsey.maxwell@newsquest.co.uk