Thomas Cashman has told a jury that he was a "high level" drug dealer who would earn up to £5,000 per week, money he would spend on cars and holidays.
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 was called to give evidence from the witness box as the defence case was opened on Tuesday afternoon. Wearing a knitted blue jumper over a white shirt and flanked by three security guards, he described to jurors how he had started smoking cannabis at around 16 while working on a funfair in Wales and began selling the class B drug aged 18.
READ MORE: Thomas Cashman murder trial resumes as man accused of shooting schoolgirl Olivia Pratt-Korbel
The defendant said he was "small scale" at this time and was "smoking my profit". But Cashman said he stopped dealing when his partner Kayleeanne Sweeney became pregnant with their now 14-year-old son.
The dad-of-two told the court: "I stopped selling cannabis when my missus got pregnant with my little boy. I just needed to change my life around basically, I didn’t want to just keep selling cannabis."
But Cashman had returned to selling cannabis by the time of his move to Grenadier Drive shortly after Christmas 2021. He said he was then "high level", adding: "It was the older I got, the more sensible I was.
"I only ever sold it in my area where I’d been brought up - everyone I sold to, I knew. I ended up selling in large amounts.
"I was selling kilos of skunk and pollen. One’s like a grass and one’s like a solid, I was selling it in kilos."
Professor John Cooper KC, defending, asked his client "you sold to people in your area?". Cashman responded by saying: "Only people in my area, yeah.
"My area’s called Finchy, like Finch Lane. That’s the area - Finch Lane, Princess Drive, things like that yeah.
"Sometimes I’ll get them to my sister’s house on Mab Lane. Sometimes I would take them to their house.
"My sister lived with her boyfriend, she was only there a couple of days a week. I’d get up and I’d go, first, to my sister’s house.
"It’s just somewhere where I plot off, it weren’t always left at my sister’s house. I’d get someone to drop them off at my sister’s house, and within the hour they’d be gone from my sister’s house."
Cashman said he would also use the home of Nicholas McHale on Snowberry Road as a "safe house" or "stash house". He told the jury: "It was a stash house where I’d stash my drugs or money."
Returning to the Mab Lane address, Cashman stated: "My sister’s boyfriend was an ex-police officer. He’s retired now, he was for 15 years.
"When he would show up, I’d always have people round the house. I’d always have my mates around.
"He didn’t like it. He got on me sister about it, they were having arguments about me always being there.
"I was stuck in a rut. I would come out the house, go to my sister’s.
"I’d have people coming to my sister’s. I’d work from my sister’s.
"She said I had to stop having people round the house. And yes, I did.
"That was on the day of the 22nd. I went in, seen my sister and she told me she’d been having arguments with her boyfriend - she told me to stop having people round my house."
Cashman said he would also "supply my brother's mates and my mates who lived down my brother's" on Finch Lane. He added: "Kevin [Dunn] didn’t agree with it.
"He was never there. Kevin got with his girlfriend.
"His two mates kept living at his house. He’s not stupid, he did find out and he did warn me more than once."
Mr Cooper asked: “Around August 22, 2022, how much money were you making?”
Cashman replied: "I was making between three grand to five grand a week. I’d buy cars, bikes, save some, go on holidays, just spend it on stuff that I enjoyed basically.
"It was just kilos to my mates who I grew up with all my life. Maybe five or six people, all in the same area yeah."
Mr Cooper questioned Cashman: "What quantity were you dealing in, say per week?"
He responded: "Say between five kilos, maybe six kilos a week on skunk. Then I’d get a couple of kilos of pollen as well - a range of five to 10."
Cashman said he sold cannabis to Paul Russell, who dealt it "in kilos, 20 bags, 50 bags and ounces". He claimed that he owed him £25,000 at the time of the shooting as a result.
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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