Thomas Cashman has told a jury that he was smoking a spliff and counting £10,000 in cash at a friend's house when Olivia Pratt-Korbel was shot dead.
The 34-year-old, of Grenadier Drive in West Derby, is currently standing trial accused of murdering nine-year-old Olivia Pratt-Korbel. The schoolgirl was shot dead in her own home on Kingsheath Avenue in Dovecot on the evening of August 22 last year.
Cashman continued to give evidence from the witness box for a second day today, Wednesday. He told the court that he was picked up by a man called Craig Byrne on Aspes Road shortly after 9pm on the day in question, after which they dropped bin bags of rubbish at a facility at Yewtree Cemetery.
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The van was then said to have continued to Mr Byrne's home on Snowberry Road, where they counted out £10,000 in cash. Cashman said: "We went upstairs to a spare bedroom and started counting money."
Professor John Cooper KC, defending, asked "how much was it?". He replied: "It was 10 thousand.
"We went downstairs. I’ve done myself a spliff in the kitchen, went in the back garden.
"I was having a general chit chat with Craig. I can’t remember what we were talking about."
Mr Cooper asked what time this was around. Cashman said: “I’m not really sure.
"I weren’t looking at my watch. If we’re going off the time here, that was quarter past nine.
"We were counting the money for 15, 20 minutes. We had a chat for 10, 20 minutes - whatever time that would be.
"We went into the front garden then. We just went into the front garden from the back garden.
"Just chatting and walked down into the front garden. I was smoking my spliff still.”
Cashman was asked how long he stayed in the front garden, to which he replied: “I’m not sure. Craig went back in to sort the money out.
"I was in the front garden smoking me spliff. I was speaking to my mate who lives over the road."
Cashman said he also saw a man called Colin Howells, who was "living in a caravan on Craig's garden". He then spoke to Nicholas McHale, who lived in a house opposite, saying of this: "We just spoke across the road.
"Nicky doesn’t smoke cannabis, he was having a cigarette in his garden. I was smoking a spliff in Craig’s garden.
"General chit chat, nothing important The football had been on, I might have asked how’s the match getting on but I’m not really into football.”
Cashman said the conversation was “not long, about five minutes or so" and that Mr Byrne then went over to Mr McHale's "to ask him could he drop the money off to put it somewhere safe". He told jurors: "When we come out in the front garden, we could hear sirens everywhere.
"That’s a normal thing by Huyton. If you hear sirens, living in Huyton, it’s a bit rough.
"The sirens were getting closer, it sounded like they were everywhere. They got louder and were coming closer."
Cashman described how Mr Byrne was driven to another location by Paul McCarthy, who was staying at Mr McHale's, while he remained on Snowberry Road. He said: "He went to put it away somewhere safe, I just rolled myself another spliff and sat on a wall with a fence on.
"I’ve just sat on the fence and smoked my spliff. You could hear sirens and police and that was driving about."
Cashman stated that Mr Byrne returned after “20 mins, maybe 30 mins max”, adding: “He said he’d had a little stop by the labour club. There was police everywhere, something’s happened.
“They went over to Nicky’s for a minute when they come back. He come over and told me that, he told me the police was everywhere by the labour club.”
Cashman claimed that he left the address after spotting Paul Russell passing in his car, saying of this: "I was with Craig in the garden. Craig’s gone in the house.
"I was sitting on the fence. Paul Russell’s come down the road in his car, I’ve jumped in.
"I just seen him, flashed him down, got a lift with him, I got in his car. I wanted a lift to Aspes Road to go and get me van."
Mr Cooper asked "did you have a conversation with him?”. Cashman responded: "Yeah, about money that he owes me.
He said this amounted to £25,000 and was a cannabis debt. Cashman continued: “It was off five kilos”
"He would have kept one for himself and sold the four to somebody else. He was only meant to get it for a week, but three weeks went by - he still never paid the money.”
“I just said to him 'where’s my money?'. He said he was gonna try and sort it.
“He looked a bit worried. I said 'where’s my money, you should have paid'.
"I said, 'I’m not paying your bill for you, you’d better get me money'. He said he should have 5,000 and some cannabis to give back as well.”
In his cross-examination this afternoon, David McLachlan KC, prosecuting, asked Cashman to clarify where he was at the time of the shooting. He said he was "at my friend’s house, Craig’s".
When questioned as to why he did not tell the police this when interviewed following his arrest, Cashman said: "I told the police it wasn’t me who did it. I have no problems with the people - I wanted to give a prepared statement just so they know it was not me.
"What I’m saying is the whole truth. I understand you’ve got a job to do Mr McLachlan, and I accept that.
"I respect that. But the police have got it all wrong, it’s not true.
"It’s all wrong, every bit of it. Somebody who’s said they’re going to ruin my life has gone to the police and said this.”
Manchester Crown Court heard during the prosecution's opening earlier this month that an armed man had been "relentlessly pursuing" Joseph Nee shortly before 10pm on August 22 2022 after approaching him and a man called Paul Abraham from behind and firing shots at his "target" with a 9mm self-loading pistol. Nee - who had been watching the Liverpool v Manchester United game with friends including Paul Abraham at a house on Finch Lane in Dovecot - was struck in the midriff and fell to the ground, but may have been saved when the gun appeared to "malfunction" as the gunman stood over him.
He was then able to scramble to his feet and ran towards the Korbel family home on Kingsheath Avenue, where he barged through the partially open front door. The assailant, however, had a second firearm - a revolver - and continued to give chase, firing a further two shots with this weapon.
One of these shots passed through the door, struck Olivia's mum Cheryl Korbel in the hand then fatally hit the youngster in the chest. The other bullet became lodged in the doorframe.
Cashman denies murdering Olivia Pratt-Korbel, the attempted murder of 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. The trial continues.
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