Cheryl Korbel, the mother of Olivia Pratt-Korbel who was murdered by Thomas Cashman in August 2022, fought back tears as she read her victim impact statement at Manchester crown court.
This is what she said:
This is Liv [the patchwork teddy bear she was holding]. She was made by a lovely lady called Nessa. She was actually made out of Liv’s pyjamas that she lay in when she was in Snowdrops next door to Alder Hey [children’s hospital in Liverpool]. She now shares my bed of a night with me.
I was 36 and already a mum to Ryan who was 13 and Chloe who was eight when I found out I was pregnant. I was shocked. I never thought I would be starting again after nine years.
Olivia was born six weeks early on 13 June 2013 at Whiston hospital weighing 4lb 2oz. She was so tiny she fitted in one hand. She had the most beautiful tanned skin. There wasn’t a blemish on her.
The tiny little bundle grew into a toddler having the most perfect chubby rolls on her legs. Every time we went out we were stopped by anyone and everyone saying how beautiful she was, especially her big, beautiful brown eyes and thick curly hair.
Ryan and Chloe adored her as their baby sister. She slept in my room until she was one and then she moved in to the big room with Chloe.
Liv wasn’t the best sleeper and would wake up of a night. Often by the time I got to her Chloe was already up and soothing her. Chloe was like a second mother to Liv.
The years passed by too quick and Liv started nursery. She was loved by everyone. She loved to play, in particular playing house and princesses. Cinderella was their favourite.
At home she would dress her dog Gizmo up in a blanket and put him in a pram, pushing him around the house. Gizmo still brings his blanket into me now.
More years passed and Liv skipped into her first day of reception. I was heartbroken but she was so happy and content. I couldn’t believe my baby was going into big school. She loved helping others and especially the role of being the teacher’s helper. She had a special bond with one of her teachers.
Liv was such a social butterfly. She was particularly good with younger children and was such a caring little girl. Liv had really long and beautiful brown hair. Something she was very proud and particular about.
A few weeks before she was cruelly taken away from us Liv had heard about the Little Princess Trust and what they do, from a friend in school. After talking to me, Liv decided she wanted to donate 12 inches of her hair, in her words, “for the sick kids to have beautiful wigs”.
We then went online together and applied for the sponsor form. Liv was due to have her hair cut on 27 August.
Liv was a girly girl and loved to play with makeup. She loved shoes with heels on. She didn’t want to wear trainers, ever. She had her own style and would wear what she wanted to wear even though it often didn’t match.
She would go to our Tony’s house with the girls and come down in their clothes and say she’d just found them. Those clothes would then make their way to our house and the girls would never see them again.
As Ryan and Chloe got older and began doing their own things, it became mostly me and her on our own. She was nicknamed my shadow. We were just always together, me, Liv and Pearl her purple bear.
This was once Chloe’s bear, but Liv took a liking to it and decided it was now hers. Pearl was her comfort blanket.
Each evening was different with Liv. One night we could be watching Matilda while she was upside down on the couch. The next night she would leave me watching H2O while she sneaked upstairs to Ryan’s room whilst he was out so she could lie on his bed watching YouTube on her iPad.
Liv never stopped talking. Literally never. Even if she wasn’t directly talking to anyone, she would be chatting away. One thing I miss most is hearing her say ‘mum’.
I just miss hearing her voice. It’s just so quiet. I would do and give anything in the world to have her chatting to me. It’s so very lonely without her. Everything is just so quiet. I just can’t cope with the silence.
Setting my alarm at half seven in the morning is something I still do because it’s ingrained in me. The day goes by in a blur and then gets to half two and I think about the school pickup, something I will never get to do again as a mum.
She was and will always be my baby. But I miss the routine we had. My mind keeps telling me that I’ve forgotten to pick her up from school.
Now tea time was a big thing for me. Because it was so centred around her and what she wanted for tea.
Everything I do and everywhere I go is a constant reminder that she is not there with me.
This happened in our home where we felt safe and should have been safe. We had no choice but to leave the home that was Liv’s first and only home. When the police left and we weren’t allowed back there, it was heartbreaking.
I walked in and it was if time had stood still. The cups of tea still sitting on the coffee table, next to her Little Princess Trust sponsor form. Liv’s new bike still propped up on its stand. One of her dolls laying on the living room floor and her brand new sparkly shoes in a box.
Right at that moment I was home. We were back to how our lives were before that night. And I soaked up the surroundings until reality dawned and brought me back to my living nightmare. Packing up our home was horrendous. Having to pack up our lives, having to strip Liv’s bed, pack her clothes, toys, jewellery, her memories into a box.
No mother should ever have to do that.
We left our friends, our neighbours. My neighbour Chris was amazing and often when I needed to go to work would sit with Liv until Chloe got home from college.
It’s so hard to go back to the area where I grew up and where I raised all three of my children, the area where some of my closest friends live. The smallest of things that remind me of Liv, her friends playing in the streets. When I see them it’s hard to accept she is no longer here.
Moving into the new house was difficult for all of us. Not being able to make her bed, put her clothes away. The toothbrush in the bathroom and not having her favourite food in the fridge.
And that night when I realised Liv had been shot and needed me. I was not able to do CPR properly on her because of my injury. I did not have full use of my hand and I felt helpless. It was only then my neighbour came in and tried all he could to save my baby.
My worst nightmare was being separated from Liv and not being with her when she needed me the most. I was the first person to hold my baby girl and as her mum I should have been the last.
I cannot get my head around how [Thomas] Cashman continued to shoot after hearing the terrifying screams. The utter devastation he has caused, he doesn’t care. How could he? His actions have left the biggest hole in our lives that can never be filled.
That man set out to do a job and he didn’t care about anyone else. Or who got in the way. He certainly couldn’t own it either. Ryan, Chloe and I are just existing day to day and have been since it happened.
We have been waiting for the trial and focusing on it and not addressing how utterly broken we are as a family. I cannot even think about rebuilding our lives without her.
Because of this we have missed out on so much, my nan who was 92 adored Liv and Liv her. Recently my nan’s health deteriorated, and she was admitted into hospital. A couple of weeks ago we were able to bring her home on end of life care.
Due to being at court every day we have not been able to spend enough quality time with her; my main focus has been getting justice for Liv. I believe she held on long enough to hear that that coward had been found guilty. Sadly my nan passed away last night.
My nine-year-old Liv was the light of our lives, our beautiful, sassy, chatty girl who never ran out of energy. She was a character, she was my baby, she had amazing qualities and knew what she wanted in life.
She will never get to make her holy communion, wear that prom dress or have a sweet 16th birthday, walk down the aisle with the man of her dreams or become a mother of her own children. All that promise for her future so cruelly taken away.
Now I have to drive to the cemetery to be close to my baby daughter. I sit with her and talk to her telling her I miss her smile, her kisses, her cuddles, her voice.
I tell her she will live on in my heart, she will always be with us, my little shadow.
We love you endless amounts Liv.
Olivia’s older sister Chloe, 18, read her statement directly to Manchester crown court about the impact of the murder. This is what she said:
In October 2012 my mum found out she was pregnant and that started my journey to being a big sister.
Our precious little Olivia was born on 13 June 2013, which was five days after my birthday.
It was the best present I have ever received. I knew I would always protect and look after her. I just loved her so much. Olivia was the best friend I’d always wanted. We were so close as I was not only her big sister but I looked after her when my mum was working. I would collect her from school and go on days out with her at the weekends.
When Olivia was old enough to sleep in a bed we shared a bedroom. As she grew she soon began to notice all my clothes and makeup and jewellery.
She would take them and wear them and if I couldn’t find something, I didn’t need to look very far. Olivia clearly believed what was mine was also hers. I would often look for something and not be able to find it. Olivia would tell me she didn’t have it but then it would turn up the following day in her makeup bag or in one of her drawers.
I remember she once went to school wearing my Pandora bracelet on her wrist. Her teacher told her that she shouldn’t have it with her as it was too expensive to have in school and it was also too big for her little wrists.
When she came home from school, mum and I noticed something dangling from the buckle on her school shoe – my Pandora bracelet. She had put it on there to keep it safe with it being too big for her wrist.
She was such a clever girl and definitely older than her years.
22 August 2022 was the worst day of my life, the day my Olivia was taken away from us.
Not only did I lose my baby sister but I lost my best friend. When I was told that she passed away I felt as though my heart had stopped beating.
A piece of me left with her that night and since then I have felt as though I am in a nightmare that I can’t wake up from.
My family and I are living in a real-life tragedy and there’s nothing we can do to change that. This is all because of selfish people feeling that it’s OK to carry guns and fire them while putting innocent people at risk of getting hurt or losing their life. That’s the reality and my Olivia is proof of that.
I miss Olivia. I miss my baby sister and I miss my best friend. I grieve for what we will never get to do together.
I miss sharing my bedroom with her and hearing her talk all the time. All the things we should be doing or would be doing as she got older … confiding in one another, shopping together, laughing and making memories.
I am beyond grateful to have had nine years of Olivia. I will keep those memories of us and her for ever.”
