The white hot media glare surrounding the murder of Olivia Pratt-Korbel and the trial of Thomas Cashman is beginning to fade and justice has been done.
The 34-year-old gun-toting thug will be grappling with the concept of spending at least 42 years behind bars for the murder of Olivia Pratt-Korbel, and the nine-year-old's family will attempt to move forward and deal with their grief. But out there in the community, certain people may still be justifiably nervous.
Cashman was a man with known criminal associates and a man who operated in a shadow economy. Merseyside Police believe he is linked with "properties all over the North West" and intend to target his assets.
READ MORE: Thomas Cashman's expensive lifestyle funded by the pain and misery he caused
The killer himself told the jury, during his trial at Manchester Crown Court, that he merely sold cannabis - and no other drugs - to around five friends in the local area.
However his story did not stack up with his admissions that he earned up to £250,000 per year, and had access to a number of different properties. The jury heard about two of his underlings, Nicholas McHale and Craig Byrne. McHale himself told the jury he sold cannabis for Cashman and allowed his home on Snowberry Road to be used as a stash-house, and Cashman said Byrne would collect drugs cash for him, although he claimed he would not get involved in selling drugs.
The ECHO has also spoken to a former customer who says Cashman personally sold him cocaine on at least eight occasions.
For Merseyside Police, the most crucial part of the case was of course identifying and convicting the gunman who brought devastation to the Korbel house on Kingsheath Avenue, on August 22 last year.
As the jury heard, Cashman had spent hours "scoping out" his intended target, convicted drug dealer and burglar Joseph Nee. He approached Nee from behind and firing a Glock semi-automatic handgun which then jammed, saving Nee's life. However Cashman had a backup weapon, a revolver, and fired into Olivia's family home after Nee barged inside in a desperate bid to escape.
Neither of those weapons have been found.
After the verdicts the ECHO asked Detective Superintendent Mark Baker, who led the investigation, whether he felt the missing guns meant there was "unfinished business" in the case. He said: "That's a good question. Firearms on the streets of Merseyside, always bothers us. The fact that the two guns that were used in the murder are out there, really concerns us as an investigation team.
"We appeal for people to come forward who have got knowledge of any guns and we want them off the street. In terms of people who supply firearms in the local community, it's always a focus for not just Merseyside Police but everybody involved in law enforcement up and down the country to take guns off the streets. Because supplying and using them results in deaths like this...
"One of our main appeal points, on the back of doing interviews like this, is to ask for information from members of the community particularly those involved in crime, that wouldn't ordinarily come forward and speak to the police. We are really keen for them, like other people have done during the course of the investigation, to tell us where those guns are and allow us to take them off the street and stop this happening to anybody else."
When asked whether Cashman was part of a particular organised crime group or was working for someone higher up the criminal ladder, DS Baker said: “That would be speculating, but he's just told the court that he was earning up to a quarter of a million pounds, cash. On the night of the murder, if you believe his account which clearly the jury didn't, he counted out £10,000 in cash.
“Whether he was working for anybody else; he's refused to name. He was asked point blank, who supplied his drugs, he refused to name them. He refused to name people he was supplying drugs to. So the investigation would continue to pursue reasonable lines of enquiry to establish exactly that question to be honest…
“The extent of his drug dealing, he admitted himself he was a high level drug dealer. A man living in Dovecot, supplying to the community in Dovecot, earning up to £250,000. He's not paying any tax on that is he? He's living in a big detached house, and there's properties linked to him all across the North West.”
Although the weapons used in the shooting have not been found, there have been other guns recovered in the Dovecot and surrounding areas in recent months, including two Glock style handguns on wasteland off Colwell Road, close to where Olivia was killed.
There has been significant activity to root out organised crime in the area of the shooting, including the use of the Clear, Hold, Build strategy aimed at fortifying communities and preventing other criminal gangs moving into the void after a crackdown on a particular group.
DS Baker added: "We know the community really suffering because we're working with them. We have received significant information the police reacted to that we executed lots of warrants through the course of the investigation.
"We did 70 searches, warrants at 35 addresses, we arrested a number of people we have been relentless in our pursuit of those involved and on the periphery of this crime. We said from the outset that those people who have assisted him, we will continue to pursue justice in relation to them as well. And this is what the community wants us to do, we know that.
"The community will recover, they will rebuild, people of Dovecot, people of Merseyside, they're resilient and tough, they will bounce back. Justice has been served, hopefully it's over and people can move forward and start to rebuild their lives."
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