A love triangle and specks of gunpowder on a borrowed pair of Under Armour trackies were the key to unlocking the truth about what happened to Olivia Pratt-Korbel on the night she was shot dead at the age of nine.
Thomas Cashman, 34, of Grenadier Drive in West Derby, was jailed for a minimum of 42 years earlier this week following a three and a half week trial at Manchester Crown Court. The court heard how the gunman shot the schoolgirl in the chest at her home on Kingsheath Avenue in Dovecot on the evening of August 22 last year, while chasing down his intended target Joseph Nee.
Following his conviction, one of the key witnesses, a woman who cannot be named for legal reasons, was praised for her part in bringing the killer to justice. The woman had previously had an affair with Cashman, behind the backs of her partner Paul Russell and Cashman's partner Kayleeanne Sweeney, Liverpool Echo reports.
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The fling had been going on for around two years after an exchange of flirty messages on Instagram. He asked her "do you feel what I feel?", to which she responded: "Why do your eyes undress me all the time?" The relationship continued "on, off for months" but soured after a pregnancy scare.
Cashman had also told Russell's brother that she wanted to move to Spain with him and set up an OnlyFans account. But the rumour got back to her own partner and caused "murder" between them, she said. In court, she denied ever having wanted a relationship with a "thug with a little willy".
On the night of August 22, killer Cashman appeared by her bedside, telling her: "I didn't know where else to go. I trust you." She had dozed off while reading a bedtime story to her children, but was woken around two hours later to him tapping on her leg saying: "it's Tommy, it's Tommy".
She recalled him having no trousers on and his head was in his hands. Cashman asked her to get him a pair of pants and she handed him a pair of navy blue Under Armour tracksuit bottoms belonging to her boyfriend.
"No one can know I'm here," Cashman told the woman. But, against his wishes, she called Russell. When he arrived, she heard the two men discussing "Joey Nee" on the doorstep and in an apparent confession, Cashman told Russell: "I've done Joey."
Russell gave Cashman a lift home. He was wearing Russell's tracksuit bottoms and a recently washed Under Armour t-shirt which had been drying on a radiator. His "murder clothing", including a pair of Monterrain trackies, which would later be taken to an associate's house by Russell, were left in a pile by the washing machine.
The next morning, the woman heard about the death of a nine-year-old girl. When she heard Nee's name being reported in the media as the intended target of the shooting, she put two and two together.
On the sixth day of Cashman's trial, the prosecution called her as what was arguably its most vital witness. Giving evidence from behind a screen, she spent a day-and-a-half on the stand being cross-examined - but the night in question was discussed for a mere 10 minutes of that time.
His defence team instead decided to quiz her over Cashman's underwhelming performance in the bedroom, chlamydia and a collection of intimate pictures saved in a hidden album on a phone and referred to as the "Tommy file". High Court judge Justice Amanda Yip had to step in as a peacemaker on several occasions as the exchange became fiery.
One difficult piece of evidence the witness had to face was a text she had sent a month prior to Olivia's murder. In the message she had told a friend that she wanted to "ruin him like he's done to me". She claimed she had found out that Cashman had also been seeing one of Ms Sweeney's closest friends, and she was planning to set up a burner Instagram account in order to expose him as a "rat".
That wasn't the only difficult accusation she had to face. Russell was said to have racked up a £25,000 in drug debts to Cashman after he supplied him with five kilos of cannabis. She herself was in rent arrears amounting to £2,500, and was also said to have been after the £200,000 reward money.
In the witness box, she told the court she had just one motive - to get justice for Olivia.
"I’m sorry, I can’t forgive anyone who has hurt any child," she told the jury. "If he was any sort of man he’d just f****** own it. I can’t believe he’s making the family go through what they’re going through. It’s a child. She can never go home ever again. It breaks my heart."
By coming forward and speaking out, she said she had risked her own skin, adding: "You’re implying I’ve ruined your client’s life, yet I’ve ruined my life. I am sitting here for what, because I’m angry? I’m mad? No. I’m sitting here for the little girl. I’ve not been asked one question about her."
Cashman's legal team were keen to paint the witness as either a woman scorned, someone who wanted the reward money or being out to fit him up for murder as her boyfriend owed him a substantial drug debt. But there was one piece of vital evidence which backed up what she was saying.
The tracksuit bottoms he was wearing as he left the woman's house were recovered from his sister's home on Mab Lane on September 5 - the day after his first arrest in connection with Olivia's murder. Officers found the trackies and the Under Armour t-shirt stashed inside a cardboard box and forensic examinations found both his and Russell's DNA on the bottoms.
Two particles of type one gunshot residue were discovered on the outer surface of the right leg. It matched that found at the scene of the shooting and supported the theory that they had been put on after the shooting.
During the trial, the jury were shown chilling footage of Cashman pursuing his victim, Joseph Nee, as gunshots rang out in the street. Cashman's ruthless pursuit continued as his target fled towards the Korbel family home.
Cheryl Korbel, Olivia's mum had stepped out of her house to investigate the commotion, but quickly rushed back indoors when she saw Nee running towards her with Cashman behind. The terrified mother tussled with Nee as she desperately tried to close the front door, but it had been left on the latch in order to allow the neighbours to let themselves in for a cup of tea.
Cashman fired another shot. The bullet passed through the door and through Cheryl's hand before striking Olivia in the chest. Nee was now inside the house. Cashman forced his arm around the door and fired one final shot which became lodged in the doorframe.
Olivia was scooped up by the first police officer to arrive at the scene and rushed to Alder Hey Children's Hospital. She was pronounced dead shortly before 11.30pm.
In a video interview with police, which was played to the jury, Cheryl recounted the moment she knew she had lost her daughter. "I heard the baby screaming, that’s when I turned round and spotted her sat at the bottom of the stairs. I couldn’t keep her awake. I knew she’d gone. I knew she’d gone."
The gunman escaped the scene of the shooting by leaping through back gardens. He claimed in his evidence that he had no involvement in the shooting and was counting £10,000 in cash and "smoking a spliff" at a friend's house at the time. He also stated he had "no problems" with the Nee family and counted them as friends.
Cashman was unanimously found guilty of Olivia's murder, attempting to murder Joseph Nee, wounding with intent to inflict grievous bodily harm against Cheryl Korbel and two counts of possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life. He was jailed for life with a minimum term of 42 years on Monday.
Russell previously pleaded guilty to assisting an offender in relation to his involvement. The 41-year-old, of Snowberry Road, is awaiting sentence and has been remanded in custody since his guilty plea in October.
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