Thomas Cashman: how Olivia Pratt-Korbel’s killer ended up behind bars
Police initially feared they would struggle to bring nine-year-old’s murderer to justice
Drug dealer Thomas Cashman has been jailed for a minimum of 42 years for the murder of nine-year-old Olivia Pratt-Korbel in her home in Merseyside.
The crime “shocked not only the city of Liverpool, but the nation”, said the judge as she handed out the sentence on Monday.
The 34-year-old Cashman, of Grenadier Drive, West Derby, was found guilty last week of the murder while in “ruthless pursuit” of another criminal, Joseph Nee.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
The night of the murder
The court heard how Cashman spent a day “scoping out” his target before chasing Nee into Olivia’s home in the Dovecot area of the city on the evening of 22 August 2022. The schoolgirl had run downstairs after hearing gunshots outside, telling her mother she was “scared”. When her mother opened the front door to see what the noise was, Nee ran towards it.
“The bullet which killed Olivia,” said the Independent, “was fired through the front door, hitting Olivia’s mother Cheryl Korbel in the hand before striking the nine-year-old girl in the chest.”
Olivia, later described by her mother as a “sassy, chatty girl who everyone adored”, was declared dead shortly after being taken to Alder Hey Children’s Hospital.
But Cashman was not arrested immediately. “Fear of reprisals meant police and prosecutors were concerned they would struggle to ever bring Olivia’s masked killer to justice,” said the BBC. The “crucial breakthrough” came when one of his ex-partners approached the police two days later. He had come to her on the night of the murder.
The star witness
In the trial, the ex-partner became the prosecution’s “star witness”, said the Daily Mirror. “Defiant in the face of Liverpool’s gangs and the feared hitman himself”, she told the jury there was “no such thing as a grass when it involves a nine-year-old girl”.
The woman, who has not been named for her own protection, “gave the jury the killer’s whereabouts the night of Olivia’s murder, along with details of how he attempted to cover it up, blowing to pieces his thin alibi”, said the paper.
She is “believed to have had more death threats than any other police witness in Merseyside’s history”, said The Sunday Times, and “may face years in a witness protection programme, hidden away from family and friends”.
Detective Superintendent Mark Baker of Merseyside Police – described by the paper as “a veteran of Liverpool’s murky world of organised crime” – said he had “never seen such bravery”.
The sentence
In the end, the jury took just over nine hours to find Cashman guilty of murder, attempted murder, wounding with intent and two counts of possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life. Yesterday, at Manchester Crown Court, he was sentenced to 42 years behind bars.
“42 years. 504 months. 15,330 days. 367,920 hours. 22,075,200 minutes,” reflected the Liverpool Echo. “But if you think Thomas Cashman will spend even one of his 1,324,512,000 seconds in jail reflecting or feeling sorry for what he’s done… then you haven’t been paying attention.”
In what the paper called a “final insult to a family whose lives he has torn apart”, Cashman refused to leave his cell to attend the sentencing. “From the moment he shot nine-year-old Olivia Pratt-Korbel dead, he has proved himself to be the ultimate coward,” said the Echo.
The judge, Mrs Justice Yip, said Cashman had “not acknowledged his responsibility for Olivia’s death and so has demonstrated no remorse”, further evidenced by his failure to come to court for sentencing.
According to The Sun, there is a £250,000 bounty on Cashman’s head over fears that he will “hand over information on unsolved gangland executions and killings in the region” in exchange for “a cushier time inside”.
“News of the bounty has been sent to criminals in the north and around jails via encrypted app Telegram,” said the paper. Cashman has been “linked to three other unsolved deaths”, added the Sun.
Speaking outside court yesterday, Olivia’s mother welcomed the sentence and said justice had prevailed, but that she and her family had “already started our life sentence having to spend the rest of our lives without Olivia”.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Hollie Clemence is the UK executive editor. She joined the team in 2011 and spent six years as news editor for the site, during which time the country had three general elections, a Brexit referendum, a Covid pandemic and a new generation of British royals. Before that, she was a reporter for IHS Jane’s Police Review, and travelled the country interviewing police chiefs, politicians and rank-and-file officers, occasionally from the back of a helicopter or police van. She has a master’s in magazine journalism from City University, London, and has written for publications and websites including TheTimes.co.uk and Police Oracle.
-
The missed opportunities to save Sara Sharif
Talking Point After each horrific child abuse case, we hear that lessons will be learnt. What is still missing?
By The Week UK Published
-
Haitian gangs massacre hundreds accused of 'witchcraft'
Under the Radar Vodou practices blamed for gang leader's son's illness, as elderly are hacked to death in Port au Prince
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
Penny acquitted in NYC subway choking death
Speed Read Daniel Penny was found not guilty of homicide in the 2023 choking death of Jordan Neely
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
Suspect in CEO shooting caught, charged with murder
Speed Read Police believe 26-year-old Luigi Mangione killed UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
UnitedHealthcare CEO killed in 'brazen, targeted' hit
Speed Read Police are conducting a massive search for Brian Thompson's shooter
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
Menendez brothers may go free in LA prosecutor plan
Speed Read Prosecutors are asking for the brothers to be resentenced for the 1989 murder of their parents
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
FBI: US violent crime falls again, hits pre-Covid levels
Speed Read A wide-ranging report found that violent crime dropped 3% in the last year, while murder dropped 11.6%
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Kenya's 'epidemic of violence' against female athletes
Under the Radar Murder of Olympic marathon runner Rebecca Cheptegei spotlights 'trend' of killings and wider culture of domestic abuse
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published