Children are "too scared" to play outside because of fear of crime. Speaking on BBC Breakfast, the Auxiliary Bishop of Liverpool has said crime in the city has left local children so scared that they have stopped playing outside.
Speaking on BBC Breakfast following the shooting of nine-year-old Olivia Pratt-Korbel, Bishop Tom Williams said: “People are obviously angry and scared, and the children in particular. I mean, it’s a child that was killed and I think the effect on them, that’s going to last for a long, long time.
“You don’t see children playing on the streets as often as you used to and all that, because there’s this element of fear of another world going on. I think there’s a lot of work of work to be done in schools and things with children.”
He denied that the city is “divided” in its response to the death of nine-year-old Olivia Pratt-Korbel. He told the programme: “The one thing that gets me is that people get the impression that we’re a divided city, you know, there’s criminals and everything else.
“It’s not divided 50/50, there’s a very small percentage, and it’s them getting all the headlines all the time, I think, which upsets me most of all. They get away with it, which is the impression you’re given.”
Olivia was shot by an unknown gunman who forced his way into her family home in Kingsheath Avenue, Liverpool on Monday night. Police have said a man, wearing black clothes and a balaclava, opened fire on two men walking down the residential street where the youngster lived.
The two men began to run before Olivia's mum, Cheryl, opened the door to see what had happened. One of the men being chased then forced his way into the home before the gunman followed him and also attempted to force his way in. He then opened fire and shot Cheryl, with the same bullet also hitting Olivia in the chest.
A number of floral tributes were left outside the property, along with teddy bears and a balloon. One message on a bunch of flowers said: “You had so much potential. We will always miss you in class, nobody can replace you.”
Meanwhile the Merseyside Police and Crime Commissioner has admitted that those involved in the death of Olivia Pratt-Korbel are unlikely to help the police’s investigation. Speaking on BBC Breakfast, Emily Spurrell said: “I actually think we’ve come a long way in Merseyside.
“The vast, vast majority of people, they want to help, they want to share information, they’re desperate to find who did this, and anything that can be helpful, they want to do that. Unfortunately, we know that probably a contingent won’t come forward, you know, they’ve yet to come forward and take responsibility for what they’ve done.
“Please, please come forward. You know, it might be that you didn’t intend for this to happen, someone has to come forward and take responsibility for what is an absolutely awful tragedy.”
She added: “I think it’s intense… We have pulled in support from neighbouring forces to make sure that, you know, we can put everything into this investigation to find out who’s done this. But also to provide some of that visible resource as well to the community.”
She also denied that Liverpool had failed to change following the killing of 11-year-old Rhys Jones, who was shot dead in Croxteth exactly 15 years before Olivia’s death. She said: “I think we’re a very different city to what we were 15 years ago.
“The culture is very different – I think if you’d looked at before this week, you would see a downward trajectory, we have the lowest firearm discharges in 21 years.”
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