Police chiefs say they are still “hunting down” those who enabled the murder of nine-year-old Olivia Pratt-Korbel.
Thomas Cashman, 34, has been found guilty of shooting the schoolgirl dead as he chased drug dealer Joseph Nee into her home in Dovecot, Liverpool, last August 22.
Two guns were used in the killing, which also injured Olivia’s mother Cheryl Korbel and Nee, but neither has been recovered.
Chief Constable Serena Kennedy of Merseyside Police said: “The conviction of Thomas Cashman in terms of the murder of Olivia is a positive.
“We are still hunting down those people who enabled that murder to take place – who supplied the gun, where the gun is – and we will carry on until we identify those people responsible.”
Anybody who is willing to pick up a gun to settle a dispute that they have with another person is taking a risk, but it's a risk they're not bothered about— Chief Constable Serena Kennedy
Detective Superintendent Mark Baker said finding the weapons – a Glock self-loading pistol and revolver – is key.
He said: “We appeal for people to come forward if they’ve got knowledge of those guns, and we want them off the streets.”
Ms Kennedy, who became Chief Constable in 2021, said she was “completely devastated” when she heard of Olivia’s death.
She said: “I was just absolutely horrified to hear that a nine-year-old child had been murdered in a way in which she had, you know, the way in which Olivia’s life had ended.
We appeal for people to come forward if they've got knowledge of those guns, and we want them off the streets— Detective Superintendent Mark Baker
“My condolences absolutely go to Olivia’s family. I just can’t imagine what they’re going through every day since Olivia was murdered.”
She described the people carrying out shootings as “absolutely cowardly, despicable people”.
She said: “Anybody who is willing to pick up a gun to settle a dispute that they have with another person is taking a risk, but it’s a risk they’re not bothered about.
“They don’t care about the consequences. They don’t care that a family has lost a son, a daughter, a brother, a sister, a partner. They’re just not bothered. They don’t care about the consequences.
“They’re not people that we want living in our communities in Merseyside and we will hunt them down, hold them responsible, or put them before the courts.”
