Shattered communities in Dovecot have said Olivia's murder has shown "things haven't changed" since the murder of Rhys Jones.
Old Swan Churches Together, a collection of churches from the area and beyond, joined together to host a vigil for peace in the Old Swan Tesco Car Park on Thursday, August 30. Groups of people gathered to light candles to remember Olivia-Pratt Korbel, Sam Rimmer and Ashely Dale, who were all killed last week.
During the vigil for peace, Fr Peter F Smyth, Vicar of Holy Spirit Vicarage in Dovecot spoke of how their community was "devastated" by the shocking murder of nine-year-old Olivia. He spoke of the similarities between her murder, and the killing of schoolboy Rhys Jones in 2007.
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Fr Smyth said: "This has got to end, this city of ours has experienced evil before, the evil that took the life of little Jamie Bulger or indeed the evil who took the life of Rhys Jones exactly 15 years to the day, to the evening before the life of Olivia was taken last week. Sadly we will probably see evil again but as a Scouser, I know that this city has a heart which beats with love and beats with compassion.
"The community that I live in is decimated and devastated by the death of Olivia. That [the death of Rhys Jones] should have been a watershed, in fact at the time it was heralded as a watershed. Things had to change.
"Sadly 15 years on things haven't changed, things must change."
In the days after Olivia's death, the church have made a condolence book, which has dozens of messages from people in the community inside. Fr Smyth said he hopes to hand this to the nine-year-old's mum, Cheryl, when she feels ready.
The Vicar of All Saints' Parish Church in Stoneycroft, Rev Dr Howard Leatherbarrow, also spoke to the crowds of people who gathered for the vigil.
He said: "I had a few messages on Facebook when we first advertised this saying 'why are you doing it? What is the point? What difference will it make?' and I would say this, we have been under the spotlight of national news in this city for the wrong reasons.
"We are not defined by the actions of a few criminal people, we are not defied by these appalling, horrible attacks."
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