The evidence that put child killer Thomas Cashman behind bars

Remorseless child killer Thomas Cashman was dubbed "the most hated man in Britain" following his conviction for the murder of Olivia Pratt-Korbel. The now 35-year-old was tirelessly hunted down by Merseyside Police in the days and weeks after the horrific shooting on the evening of August 22, 2022.

That hunt has been the subject of a Channel 4 documentary this week, which showed how the investigations into the murders of Olivia and Ashley Dale - a 28-year-old council worker shot in the same week in a separate bungled gangland assassination - were conducted.

Cashman would be sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum prison term of 42 years after he was found guilty of the murder of nine-year-old Olivia in March last year. But the self proclaimed "high level" drug dealer had tried to paint himself as a family man with two kids of his own as he sat on the stand, even telling the jury: "I'm getting blamed for killing a child. I've got my own children. I'm not a killer, I'm a dad. I'm getting blamed for something I haven't done."

But the jury were not to be fooled by Cashman after the evidence given in court painted a darker picture of the dad-of-two. On the night of Olivia's death, Cashman had been on a mission to execute convicted drug dealer Joseph Nee, 35, who, in a bid to save his own life barged inside Cheryl Korbel's home.

Cashman blindly fired two shots into the Korbel home, with one bullet passing through the front door, through Cheryl's right wrist and into the chest of Olivia as she stood on the stairs behind her mum. Detective Superintendent Mark Baker, who led the investigation, described the case as the "worst thing I have ever investigated" in his 30-year police career.

Cashman was found guilty of murder after his manner in the witness box began to come across as more cold and more calculated to the jury, of 10 men and two women, as time went on. Cashman claimed he was a well known drug dealer in Dovecot who made between £3,000 and £5,000 per week selling cannabis.

However, he maintained the portrayal of himself as "not a bad drug dealer" but a friendly neighbourhood weed supplier who only sold to people he knew. During his own evidence, he described how one of his associates, Paul Russell, owed him a £25,000 debt for "five kilos of cannabis".

Cashman did not hesitate to tell the jury that he told him: "If you don't sort it, I'll take your graft and I'll take your car." David McLachlan, KC, prosecuting, did not miss the opportunity to ask the question of what would have happened if Russell had not co-operated when he got to cross-examine Cashman.

After a momentary pause, Cashman replied: "If he didn't give it me, well, he would have ended up getting a punch or something." Mr McLachlan asked: "This is the world in which you live and work?" Cashman responded: "If I let people do that all the time I wouldn't be able to sell cannabis. I would have took the graft; I would have took the car".

Cashman's apparent £260,000 income a year on just 'Class B drugs alone was suspiciously high given the fact he claimed he "never sold class A drugs" as he doesn't 'agree' with it. However, the ECHO spoke to one man who wishes to remain anonymous that claims he previously bought cocaine from Cashman and his associates who all sell it.

The customer said he purchased cocaine from Cashman on around eight occasions, including close to the time of the shooting and had also bought it from Cashman's henchmen. The man added that Cashman and his organised crime group 'ran the streets' in Dovecot and described him as 'feared'. When asked why, he said: "He was known as a hitman in the area."

What the jury were not told, although it was aired in court in their absence, was that Cashman is a suspect in a previous attempt on Nee's life, just two weeks before Olivia's murder. Merseyside police revealed in a press conference before Cashman's arrest that one of the two guns he fired that night had already been linked to two previous shootings.

The first was on January 27, 2020, when a 19-year-old man was discovered wounded in Dovecot. The second was close to playing fields off Ackers Hall Avenue on August 8 2022, around the corner from Olivia's home, where the Glock was fired "indiscriminately" as two "rival groups" faced off.

During a legal discussion in the absence of the jury, it was confirmed that the target of that shooting was Joseph Nee, and that police considered Cashman a suspect. Cashman's childhood sweetheart fiancée, Kayleeanne Sweeney, loyally attended court every day to support him with the full knowledge that he had been cheating on her with Russell's partner, who cannot be named for legal reasons.

For unknown reasons, Cashman turned to his mistress for help in escaping responsibility for his monstrous crime. It was Russell's partner who gave detectives the key to solving Olivia's murder which the investigation team were able to build a case around.

The woman had told how she awoke late on August 22 to find a distressed Cashman in her bedroom, holding his head in her hands. She said: "It was pitch black. I followed him down the stairs. I'd gone downstairs and I couldn't understand what he was saying, he was stuttering."

"Something like someone was coming for him, he had a source who told him someone was sitting him off. He wanted to do him before he did him." She said Cashman told her: "I didn't know where else to go, but I trust you."

The woman called her partner, Paul Russell, who arrived at the house. She said: "I asked him where he'd been and he said he went to 'drop the bits off' before he came my house. I honestly believe it was the guns yeah. I know he wouldn't have came to my house with them. 'Bits' or 'stuff', it was one of them words."

The woman recalled hearing their conversation at the front door: "'Lad, I've done Joey. I've done Joey' or, I dunno it was something along them lines. As he was outside in the front garden. He was very nervous, I never seen him like that. I felt like there was something wrong."

The woman was very frustrated and angry in court as she was questioned by Professor John Cooper KC in court and was told by Mrs Justice on several occasions to calm down. After she described Cashman as a "thug with a little willy", Mr Cooper argued that she was so "bitter" at Cashman refusing to leave Ms Sweeney for her that she was willing to "stitch him up" for the murder of a little girl.

However, the jury didn't buy it, as the woman said she would not "destroy her own life" and have her personal life dragged into the public to frame him for murder. More evidence found that clothes belonging to Russell that she claims to have given Cashman were recovered stashed inside a child's pram box at Cashman's sister's home.

Two tiny specs of gunshot residue were also recovered from the right leg of a pair of Under Armour tracksuit bottoms. The jury also heard from Nicholas McHale, who tried to provide Cashman with an alibi. McHale's home on Snowberry Road was used as Cashman's stash-house and he was supplied with drugs to sell.

The jury also heard from Craig Byrne, another associate of Cashman who would collect cash for him, and run him around on errands. After just over nine hours of deliberations, the jury gave their verdict.

They found him guilty of Olivia's murder, guilty of the attempted murder of Joseph Nee, guilty of wounding Cheryl Korbel, guilty of possessing firearms with intent to endanger life. In the words of DS Baker: "In his police interviews Cashman showed no remorse for his actions."

"He has deprived a nine-year-old girl of her future, and her family of the pride they would have had in watching her grow up. When he found out that he had shot an innocent young girl, he should have had the courage to stand up and come forward. Instead, he chose to lay low, despite being a dad himself."