On a late summer's evening in August last year, Kingsheath Avenue was no different to any other suburban Merseyside street.
Over on the corner, regulars at Dovecot Labour Club - a watering hole affectionately known as the Bunker due to its scarcity of windows and natural light - drank up after watching the Monday night football on the TV, Liverpool FC having fallen to a 2-1 defeat to Manchester United along the M62 at Old Trafford. Joseph Nee had also been watching the game nearby at his golfing friend Timmy Naylor's house, leaving on foot after the final whistle alongside Paul Abraham - who was plotting a diversion to the chippy before turning in ahead of an early start for work in the morning.
Cheryl Korbel had been out for tea at the Toby Carvery on Queens Drive with her nine-year-old daughter Olivia, a small treat as the long summer holidays began to draw to a close. Olivia, the youngest of her three children, had gone to bed but was up and down, restless due to the heat of the night.
READ MORE: Olivia: the little girl at heart of heartbreaking murder trial
The neighbours popped around for a cup of tea after they had arrived home. Cheryl left her front door on the latch so they could let themselves in while she brewed up.
Across the road, Rebecca Power was curled up in bed with her kids watching films on an Amazon Fire Stick. Adele Maher was feeling under the weather and took herself off to bed around half nine, while boyfriend and girlfriend Andrew Telfer and Olivia Heffron had also gone upstairs for an early night in front of the telly.
Mum and daughter Lisa and Libby Boylan had had a busy day encompassing a fifth birthday party, a hospital appointment and a takeaway with granddad. Upon arriving home, they sat in the car and chatted about an unspeakable tragedy which had occurred just down the road in the early hours of the previous day, when Knowsley Council worker Ashley Dale was shot dead aged 28 in her own home in Old Swan.
Little did they know that, only metres away, a masked gunman had been lurking and lying in wait armed with a glock and a revolver for the past half hour, ready to pounce at the moment that Nee emerged on the street. August 22 2022 would prove to be anything but ordinary.
It would instead become one of the darkest days in this city's history, as Thomas Cashman was about to shatter the normality of this everyday scene and shatter the lives of everyone who knew and loved little Olivia Pratt-Korbel. Five loud bangs cut through the peace and quiet of the evening, followed by harrowing screams.
Nee would survive the encounter but the innocent schoolgirl, days away from starting year five at St Margaret Mary's Catholic Junior School in Knotty Ash, would not. Cheryl was shot in the hand as she fought to protect her family home, but the pain of this wound would prove trivial when compared to that of the broken heart of a bereaved mother.
The chilling episode could have unfolded at any one of dozens, if not hundreds, of doorsteps nearby. This is how it arrived at the Korbel family home, bringing with it unimaginable grief.
READ MORE: Thomas Cashman murder trial updates as jury sent to begin deliberations
The assassination foiled by a trip to Screwfix
Thomas Cashman, a then 33-year-old man with two children of his own, had spent much of the day patrolling the Dovecot area. His half-brother Kevin Dunn lived just off Kingsheath Avenue on Finch Lane, but his interest was solely over the road in Joseph Nee.
A convicted burglar and drug dealer not long out of prison, Nee's Volkswagen Transporter van had been spotted parked up on the Finch Lane in the early afternoon outside Mr Naylor's house. These two men had known each other since they were young children, without ever being particularly close friends.
But, since Nee's release from jail, they had begun socialising more frequently and playing golf together. He had been hoping to do so on that day, but adverse weather put paid to his plan.
Instead, they drove to Aintree Retail Park. Mr Naylor bought a £550 55-inch Hisense television and a PlayStation on finance from Currys before the pair visited American Golf and perused for clubs.
He purchased a top from the store and some hash browns from Subway before Nee drove him home and helped him to set up his new electrical goods. It was at this time that Cashman passed by the address in his own van, a Citroen Berlingo.
In a change of dark clothing, he appeared on CCTV footage in a change of dark clothing at the junction of Berryford Road and Finch Lane shortly before 4pm. Cameras captured him stood on the street corner with his face covered, peering over in the direction of Mr Naylor's home before doing a sudden about turn.
Nee's van was no longer there. Unbeknown to Cashman, he had left the area around half an hour earlier and travelled back to Aintree Retail Park in order to visit Screwfix - a trip that may well have saved his life.
Thomas Cashman had been out to shoot Joseph Nee dead. And while this first attempt had been thwarted before it even really began, the assassin would be back.
Cashman continued to keep tabs on Finch Lane. He took a total of 12 trips past Mr Naylor's home in the afternoon and evening of August 22 - flitting between there, his brother's house only a few doors down on the opposite side of the street, his sister's, the homes of associates on Snowberry Road as well as his own large, detached, new-build on the Point estate, bordering West Derby Golf Club.
Crucially, one such visit came only minutes after the match had kicked off. Nee's van was back on Finch Lane at this time, and his target was where Cashman wanted him.
He briefly returned to his home on Grenadier Drive for eight minutes before heading out again and parking his van up on Aspes Road. Dressed all in black and with his face covered, he continued on foot .
For more than half an hour, Cashman waited outside silently with two loaded guns in his possession. Then, at 9.52pm, the game finished.
The shooting
Nee was one of five friends who had been watching the match at Timmy Naylor's house on the new TV in his bedroom while smoking weed. He left alongside another of the group, Paul Abraham, shortly after full-time.
Suddenly, the two men heard a pair of bangs behind them. Mr Abraham initially thought the first was a firework, but the second confirmed to him that they were gunshots.
He fled up an alleyway as Nee fell to the floor, having been struck in the midriff by a bullet fired from a 9mm self-loading pistol. Cashman bore down on the injured and helpless man, held out the firearm and prepared to fire what would be the final shot - the one to finish the job.
His victim begged: "Please don't. Don't lad.
"What are you doing lad? What are you doing?"
But fate smiled on Nee for a second time that day. The gun malfunctioned, possibly jamming during a struggle.
It gave him a few invaluable moments to get up and run for his life. Cashman however was undeterred, continuing his relentless pursuit as Nee fled towards the front door of the Korbel home - leaving a trail of blood behind him as he did so.
Alarmed by the cracks of gunfire out in her street, Cheryl Korbel had gone outside to investigate. Spotting the opening to her hallway, Nee made a dash for what he must have seen as potential sanctuary inside.
The mum soon realised the danger she was in and hurried back inside, desperately attempting to shut the front door in a bid to keep that danger away from her family. Those she held most dear, her son Ryan and her daughters Chloe and Olivia, were upstairs.
Olivia - who, as the youngest member of the Korbel clan, was known as "the baby" in a manner which will be all too familiar to many a family on Merseyside - had been in bed, but she too had heard the bangs and was unsurprisingly startled. She shouted out "mummy, I'm scared" and ran to the bottom of the stairs.
As Nee tried to force his way in, Cashman fired again. His shot missed the intended target, instead hitting and passing through the door.
This bullet - fired from the second, backup weapon the gunman was carrying - struck Cheryl Korbel in the hand. Horrifically, it continued into Olivia's chest and became lodged in her left arm.
Nee managed to barge his way inside past an injured Cheryl, but Cashman still was not done. A gloved hand brandishing the revolver came around the door.
There was a flash and a bang as he fired once more. Thankfully, this shot did not cause any further injury, but the damage was done.
Cheryl did not realise straight away that Olivia had been hurt. Being shot in your own hallway by a stranger a matter of moments after you had been sat in your living room having a cup of tea with the neighbours is an ordeal that, in itself, would have left anyone's head spinning.
Then, she turned around. She saw her critically-injured daughter.
Many would have crumbled at the sight, but Cheryl - seriously wounded though she was - summoned every ounce of strength she had left and tried to pick Olivia up and carry her upstairs and out of harm's way. She tried to stem the bleeding with towels and cried: "Stay with me baby."
But there was nothing she could do. It was immediately apparent to the first police officer to arrive at the scene how gravely injured Olivia, her pyjamas soaked with blood, was.
He scooped the little girl up into his arms and placed her into the back of a patrol car. Olivia was rushed the short distance to Alder Hey Children's Hospital, but she was pronounced dead at 11.24pm.
She was nine-years-old.
In stark coincidence, it was 15 years to the day since another of the most horrendous days Liverpool had seen. In eerily similar circumstances, the evening of August 22 2007 had seen 11-year-old Rhys Jones shot and killed near to the Fir Tree pub as he walked home from football training after being caught in the crossfire of a feud between the Croxteth Crew and the rival Norris Green-based Strand Gang.
The aftermath
Before the arrival of the emergency services, Nee managed to stumble his way out of the house before collapsing in the road. Ryan Korbel, not yet realising his little sister had been shot, followed him outside and screamed at him: "You've brought this to my door."
Nee was able to call for help, and a group of associates bundled him into a black Audi Q3 before carrying him into Whiston Hospital's A&E department - later being transferred to Aintree Hospital. It is believed he spent months there as an inpatient, such were the severity of his potentially life-threatening injuries.
Cheryl too was taken to Aintree, being left with a broken bone in her hand. It was here that she was told the unthinkable news, that Olivia had died.
She spoke on the phone with a relative who was at Alder Hey, who promised that she would not leave her baby's side. She told Cheryl that she "looked like she was sleeping".
Her killer meanwhile had made good his escape, vaulting walls and fences as he leapt through the back gardens of houses in the area in order to avoid the gaze of CCTV cameras and the public. Cashman had a destination in mind.
The love triangle, the cover-up attempt and the confession
On the night Olivia was killed, Denise had dozed off while reading a bedtime story to her children. Her name has been changed for the purposes of this article as she cannot be publicly identified due to a court order.
Around two hours later, she was woken by a man at her bedside. She felt a tap on her leg.
"It's Tommy, it's Tommy."
It was Cashman, seeking refuge in her family home after the shooting had gone horribly wrong. He had no trousers on and had his head in his hands.
"I didn't know where else to go. I trust you."
She wondered if she was dreaming, or maybe having a nightmare. Cashman asked her to get him a pair of pants and - clueless at to what he was talking about, and mostly likely in a daze after her unexpected and abrupt wake-up call - she handed him a pair of navy blue Under Armour tracksuit bottoms belonging to her boyfriend, Paul Russell.
Denise had history with her late night visitor. She and Cashman had been having an affair behind the backs of their respective partners.
This dalliance had begun some two years earlier. It was only friendly between them at first, but all it took was a couple of flirty Instagram messages.
"Do you feel what I feel?", Cashman asked of her. Denise was indeed attracted to the man who had a penchant for designer Alexander McQueen gear and Moncler trainers, and added fuel to the fire: "Why do your eyes undress me all the time?"
He paid her a visit, and the inevitable happened. It was then "on, off for months", with long periods of radio silence punctuated by the occasional sexual interlude.
Back in her bedroom in the night of August 22, Cashman was stuttering and saying "someone was coming for him". An ally had told him that someone had been "sitting him off, observing him".
He implored her, "no one can know I'm here". But, against Cashman's wishes, Denise called Russell.
Her partner rushed around. At the doorstep, she heard the two men discussing "Joey Nee".
Upon his arrival, Russell was reported to have said to Cashman: “Lad, don’t wanna hear it. Don’t tell me nothing.
"Don’t wanna hear it. Don’t tell me nothing."
But, in an apparent confession, Cashman told Russell: "I've done Joey."
And then they went off into the night in the family car - Cashman wearing Russell's trackie bottoms, a recently washed and mismatched black and grey Under Armour t-shirt of his which had been drying on a radiator and a grey and yellow pair of Nike sliders. He had left his "murder clothing", including a pair of Monterrain trackies, in a pile by the washing machine.
Russell would get rid of these incriminating items by taking them round to the house of a Cashman associate called Craig Byrne after giving the would-be hitman a lift back to his van, helping to cover for the very man who was secretly having sex with his girlfriend. The guns have never been found, although Denise reported that her once lover told her he had "dropped the bits off" before arriving at her house.
The next morning, she heard the news that left a city in despair and quickly put two and two together. When she heard Nee's name being reported in the media as the intended target of the shooting, she knew for sure.
The holiday to Runcorn and the investigation
Once back at his van, Cashman was on the move to Snowberry Road and the home of Nicky McHale. This was an address that doubled as his safehouse for stashing cannabis.
Paul McCarthy had been staying there at the time, having split up with his partner. Mr McHale asked him to do him a favour and drive his mate home.
He later described an awkward journey in his Mercedes C220 AMG, during which the only chat concerned Cashman giving him directions. Instead of heading to Grenadier Drive however, he instructed his somewhat bemused chauffeur to head around the corner to Mab Lane.
The next leg in a tangled web of a journey saw him travel by bicycle to Playfield Walk, where his niece Bobbi Bailey lived. It was her that eventually delivered Cashman home at around midnight in the Ford Fiesta which he had bought her when she passed her driving test.
Two nights later, he was on his way out of the city in his long-term partner's Land Rover Discovery. Cashman would later describe his trip with childhood sweetheart Kayleeanne Sweeney as a "chilled" getaway while the kids were being looked after by her mum.
It would not be an exotic holiday abroad, which would perhaps be par for the course for a man who - by his own admission - was raking in as much a £5,000 per week in dealing drugs. The destination wasn't to be Dubai, Ibiza or a city break in Amsterdam.
Nor was it even a comparatively modest trip to the Lake District or North Wales. Thomas Cashman was off for a staycation in Runcorn.
Arriving at waterside apartment complex the Decks on the evening of August 24, he and Ms Sweeney paid a late night visit to an Asda supermarket in the Cheshire town before belatedly retiring for the evening. There was no time to take in the sights of the Cheshire town however, as in the morning they were heading straight back to Liverpool.
The couple made the return journey to Grenadier Drive shortly after 10am on August 25, and it was on this date that Cashman disconnected the multitude of CCTV cameras installed at his home. The hard drive on which this footage was saved has never been recovered.
They similarly spent that night back in Runcorn, which they had once called home. Cashman and Ms Sweeney were thereafter back on Merseyside, although he would return to the Decks a few days later.
Meanwhile, Merseyside Police were well into the thick of one of the most high profile investigations in the force's history. More than 800 "intelligence logs" were received during the course of their enquiries, with Operation Robin having seen Cashman's movements on August 22 painstaking pieced together via an array of CCTV and Ring doorbell footage from around the Dovecot and West Derby areas and further afield.
The shooter was established to have been wearing black Nike trainers and distinctive tracksuit bottoms, identified as being of Monterrain brand due to reflective strips down the side and patterning on the knee. Coincidentally, Cashman was captured wearing identical trousers upon his arrival at the Decks - although no such pair has ever been found.
The head of design at Footasylum would later be drafted in to give her expert opinion of what was described as a "best selling" item. The ECHO understands that 2,400 such trackies were sold across the UK during the production cycle of this garment.
Back on Kingsheath Avenue, the findings of crime scene investigators included a discovery of one stray bullet striking brickwork below the bay window of a house on the corner of Finch Lane. No such warning was needed in the heartbreaking circumstances, but it was yet another reminder that innocent people can so easily become victims when it comes to gun crime.
The birthday arrest
Cashman was back at the apartment in Runcorn with his friend John Wynne by the early hours of September 4, his 34th birthday. Shortly before 1am, he had visitors.
They were not there to wish him many happy returns. It was a flock of armed police, there to arrest him.
Cashman, inevitably, was not too happy. He told officers: "You stupid c***s. Yous are stitching me up for."
Cashman was then returned to Liverpool and booked in at St Anne Street Police Station. Interviewed by detectives in the afternoon of the same day, he answered no comment under interview aside from giving a prepared statement.
"I’ve got no involvement at all in any of these crimes that you’re putting forward towards me. Got no problem with any of the people you’ve just mentioned."
Continuing to keep his mouth shut in subsequent interviews, Cashman was released on bail two days later. His house was then searched on September 14, when it was found with no electricity supply while every router, smoke alarm, CCTV monitor and cable from the rear of televisions in each room were disconnected.
He was arrested for a second time shortly after 4.30pm on September 29 at a flat at Irwell Chambers on Union Street in Liverpool city centre. Cashman said on this occasion: "You’ve got an innocent man."
Cashman continued to answer no comment when quizzed by police. But, this time, he was charged with Olivia's murder.
The trial
Shortly before Christmas, it was decided that proceedings against Cashman would be switched from Liverpool Crown Court to Manchester Crown Square Crown Court. It came after his defence counsel raised concerns over whether he could ever possibly receive a fair trial by jury in his home city amid greatly heightened feelings following Olivia's death.
The ECHO has been unable to report the reasons for the venue change until now due to legal reasons, nor could it be reported that Russell pleaded guilty to assisting an offender in advance of the trial. He has been remanded in custody while awaiting sentence pending the outcome of Cashman's trial, having admitted the offence back in October.
Then came Monday, March 6. Just over six months to the day since his first arrest, it was time to face a jury of 10 men and two women selected from a panel of 60 members of the Mancunian public.
Cashman had been held as a category A prisoner in HMP Manchester pending his trial date and was escorted into the city centre by an armed guard every day for nearly four weeks. Olivia's family meanwhile walked in as one, wearing pink ribbons on their coats as a small reminder, if ever it was needed, as to why everyone was there.
Cashman denied Olivia's murder, attempting to murder Nee and wounding with intent to inflict grievous bodily harm against Cheryl Korbel. He also pleaded not guilty to two counts of possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life.
The friend with benefits turned key prosecution witness
It was the sixth day of the trial, the first day of the second week, and the prosecution called what was arguably its most vital witness. Giving evidence from behind a screen, Denise clutched a bible to her heart and took a determined tone as she swore her oath.
She spent a day-and-a-half on the stand being cross-examined by Cashman's brief Professor John Cooper KC, an old school silk with an impressive CV boasting several examples of clients cleared of murder. Yet her version of events on the evening of August 22 occupied less than 10 minutes of that time.
Topics instead included sexual fluids, Cashman's underwhelming performance in the bedroom, chlamydia and a collection of intimate pictures saved in a hidden album on Denise's phone and referred to as the "Tommy file". The results were fiery, and High Court judge Justice Amanda Yip had to step in as a peacemaker on several occasions.
One difficult piece of evidence for her to face was a text she had sent to a friend a month prior to Olivia's murder in which she said she wanted to "ruin him like he's done to me". Denise claimed this was because she had learned 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".
Their own fling had also turned somewhat sour after a pregnancy scare, while he had also told Russell's brother that she wanted to move away with him to Spain and set up an OnlyFans account. She said this had inevitably got back to her own partner and caused "murder" between them, but Denise denied having wanted a relationship with a "thug with a little willy".
There were further accusations to throw at her. Russell was said to have racked up a £25,000 drug debt to Cashman - whom she also described in more complimentary terms as a "good looking lad" who made her feel "like a kid again" - after he supplied him with five kilos of cannabis.
Denise, who herself was in rent arrears amounting to £2,500, was also said to have been after reward money. At one stage, the cash put up by Crimestoppers stood at as much as £200,000 - the highest amount in the charity's history - thanks to a pledge from an anonymous donor.
But she claimed to have one motive and one motive only. Justice for Olivia.
"I’m sorry, I can’t forgive anyone who has hurt any child. 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."
And Denise had one further, extremely powerful retort. By coming forward and speaking out, she had risked her own skin.
"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."
The gunpowder on the Under Armour trackie bottoms
While 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, there was one piece of vital evidence which backed up what she was saying. The tracksuit bottoms given to him were recovered from his sister's home on Mab Lane on September 5, the day after his first arrest, stashed inside a cardboard box originating from a pram.
Forensic examinations found both his and Russell's DNA on them. And, crucially, two particles of type one gunshot residue - matching that found at the scene of the shooting - were discovered on the outer surface of the right leg.
This gave support "for the proposition that they had been put on by the firer after the incident". The Under Armour t-shirt given to him on the night of the shooting was also found in the same box, with Cashman's blood found in the inner surface.
It was speculated that this speck may have been as a result of a minor cut or scrape sustained as he garden hopped away from the scene. Whatever the case, Thomas Cashman had questions to answer.
The defendant takes the stand
It was on day 12 of the trial that the defendant was called to give evidence from the witness box, being questioned by his own counsel and the prosecution over the course of the next three days. Flanked by three security guards and wearing a knitted blue jumper over a white shirt, typical of the cozy attire he sported throughout proceedings, the dad-of-two described himself as a "high level" drug dealer who would spent the vast monies he earned through selling kilo amounts to "five or six" friends on high-powered cars and holidays.
And his suspicious movements during the day leading up to the shooting were apparently part and parcel of his trading in cannabis, no different to any other day in the life. However, his brother was apparently none too pleased with him having used his home for such activities.
Cashman claimed that his sudden U-turn shortly before 4pm, when he was said to have been plotting to shoot Nee but discovered that his adversary had left, was down to him spotting Mr Dunn outside at the same time. He was indeed seen there on CCTV footage.
And Nee was no enemy to him. Far from it.
Cashman had in fact been with him the previous day at his mum's house and "spirits were high". He had known the family for years and counted Joey as a friend.
And there was an explanation for the gunshot residue on the Under Armour trackies. Cashman cited a rendevouz with Denise after she had been one of the first people on the scene of another shooting in which a man was injured.
He said this escapade had occurred in her kitchen, and she had given him the items of Russell's clothing after sexual fluids were transferred to the top and trousers he was wearing at the time - fearing that he would be rumbled by his girlfriend if she saw the stains. This however clashed with her account, which stated that the encounter had taken place in her bedroom and he had only been wearing his "boxies" and socks, while she had not handed him the change of clothes at this time.
Perhaps most importantly, Cashman stated that he was counting £10,000 in ill-gotten cash at Mr Byrne's house and smoking a spliff at the time Olivia was shot dead. Later, he supposedly spotted Russell driving down Snowberry Road, flagged him down and grabbed a lift with him to Aspes Road.
Cashman admitted that he had exerted some pressure on his driver as a result of the £25k debt. This included threats to take his graft phone and his "nice car" from him.
When pressed on this point by the prosecution, he said: "He was taking the p***. I told him if he doesn’t pay the money, I’ll take his graft phone and his car.
"If he didn’t give it me, well, he would have ended up getting a punch or something. If I let people do that all the time, I wouldn’t be able to sell cannabis."
On the whole, Cashman came across relatively calm and collected while addressing the jury and telling them that he had no involvement whatsoever in the tragic incident. One rare moment of emotion came when he appeared to tear up, his voice broke and he said: "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."
The defence's own goal
Cashman would probably have been relatively happy with his performance on the stand. There had been the odd hairy moment for him - whether it was being forced to admit that he would be prepared to use violence to assert his dominance in the criminal underworld or having no explanation for some of his movements in the lead up to the shooting.
But the prosecution had far from sunk him during cross-examination. And the defence counsel thought they had an ace up their sleeve - Nicky McHale was prepared to come to court and give him an alibi.
And he indeed backed up the tale Cashman had given. At the time of the shooting, he was outside Mr Byrne's house on Snowberry Road smoking a spliff.
So far, so good. But then came the moment that may ultimately have turned the tide against him.
Cashman had earlier maintained that the similarity between his Monterrain tracksuit bottoms and the gunman's was nothing significant. As it was succinctly phrased in the courtroom, "everybody's mad for Monterrain in Dovecot" - this was gear that everyone wears.
Shortly before the trial broke for dinner on this Friday, day 15 of the case, Mr Cooper asked Mr McHale to lift up his top. He obliged, and revealed a Monterrain t-shirt.
Mr McHale was then asked to reveal his footwear. He had to remove one shoe to display it as he too was giving evidence from behind a screen, and proceeded to hand a brand new black Cruyff trainer - also bearing a similarity to Cashman's - to the court clerk to display to those present.
There were gasps, bordering on laughs, from Olivia's family in the public gallery. It felt every bit like a pre-planned, forced and false stunt.
It was as subtle as a sledgehammer, and it was a calamitous own goal. How could the 12 jurors believe a word coming from Mr McHale's mouth after what could reasonably be taken an excruciatingly staged set-up?
David McLachlan KC, prosecuting, seized on the error in cross-examination, accusing him of being "put up to being here" and even "paid to be here". The prosecution proceeded to reveal an embarrassing log of flirtatious messages Mr McHale had sent to Ms Bailey, Cashman's niece, on the night of August 22.
In the dock, he had a face like thunder. Was this his fate being sealed by his own star witness?
The verdict
Cashman was unanimously found guilty of Olivia's murder after nine hours and three minutes of deliberations by the jury. As he was led down to the cells, facing a life sentence, the words of the mother whose nine-year-old girl he shot dead should have been ringing in his ears, the words spoken by her at Olivia's funeral.
"Liv touched so many people's hearts and was loved and adored by everyone. She will never be forgotten.
"So us and I will never say goodbye. But what I will say is goodnight."
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