The trial of Thomas Cashman over the murder of Olivia Pratt-Korbel continued for a third week.
The nine-year-old was shot dead inside her own home on Kingsheath Avenue, Dovecot, on the evening of August 22 last year. A bullet fired by a gunman travelled through the front door and struck the schoolgirl's mum Cheryl Korbel in the hand, before fatally hitting the youngster in the chest.
The gunman was pursuing 36-year-old Joseph Nee, who barged into the Korbel family home while running for his life. Nee was also wounded but survived.
Cashman, 34, of Grenadier Drive in West Derby, denies being the gunman or any involvement in the shootings. Here is a day-by-day breakdown of how the trial progressed during week three.
READ MORE: Thomas Cashman murder trial resumes as man accused of shooting schoolgirl Olivia Pratt-Korbel
Day 11 - Monday, March 20
Legal arguments between counsel were heard at the start of the third week. No evidence was put before the jury on day 11.
Day 12 - Tuesday, March 21
The prosecution's case was closed, and Cashman was called to give evidence from the witness box as the defence case opened. Wearing a blue knitted jumper over a white shirt, he was asked by Professor John Cooper KC, defending, over his links with the Nee family and whether he had ever had any problems with them.
The defendant replied: "No, I never had problems with the Nee family ever. They’ve always been my friends."
Cashman added that he had "grown up" around them and had been friends with the family for around 10 years. When asked what he would talk to them about, he replied: "Mostly cars and bikes and things like that, they liked motorbikes and cars and I have motorbikes and cars.
"I’d see them a lot like yeah. I know where his mum’s house is.
"I know where a couple of the brothers live. The day before, I was at his mother’s house with the brothers - with Joseph and Jamie as well."
Mr Cooper asked whether Joseph Nee spent a lot of time at his brother's house. Cashman said: “From what I knew, he was always local yeah. They always lived on Dovecot, they’re always local yeah.
"If I was driving round and I’d see them. I’d always stop and speak to them."
Mr Cooper asked about the time he spent with the Nees the day before the shooting. Cashman said: "Jamie Nee just got a brand new Audi RS6. They were talking about his new car that he’s just got."
The defence counsel asked "was it friendly?". Cashman responded "course, yeah" and added there were "no problems whatsoever".
Mr Cooper told Cashman the prosecution will accuse him of making several journeys with the intention of "scoping out" Joseph Nee ahead of shooting him, and asked "what do you say about that?". He replied: "It is untrue."
Cashman also described to jurors how he had started smoking cannabis at around 16 while working on a funfair in Wales, then began selling the class B drug aged 18. He 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."
However, 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.
Day 13 - Wednesday, March 22
Cashman continued to give evidence from the witness for a second day. Mr Cooper asked him about messages recovered from the phone of a woman Cashman admitted having a fling with behind his partner's back.
The witness, who cannot be named for legal reasons, told her friend she wanted to "ruin" Cashman like he "had ruined me". Mr Cooper asked: "You heard the evidence as far as [witness name] was concerned.
"She said this. ‘I’m going to ruin you like you ruined my whole life’.
"She agreed that was her view. She went on to say ‘he had ruined my life, finished my life, he head f***ed me’.
"She was referring to her relationship with you. When she said I’m going to ruin you, were you surprised to hear her express herself in that way?”
Cashman replied: “Everything she’s said, is what she’s done to me. She’s ruined my life.
"She’s ruined my partner’s life, she’s ruined my kids' life. What she said to her mate she had done to me.
"My life’s been ruined. What she’s saying is a lie.
"She’s ruined my life. That’s the only thing I can say."
Cashman also told the jury the woman was "obsessed" with him, and also that he was owed £25,000 by the woman's partner, Paul Russell, for five kilos of cannabis which he had supplied to Mr Russell. He also suggested the woman was interested in the reward money for information on Olivia's death.
He told the jury he had told Mr Russell he would "take his graft phone and take his car" if the bill was not paid. Mr Cooper suggested: "The obsession, the drug debt and the reward - those are the three main reasons you think she is lying about you?”
Cashman replied: “Yeah I think so, she’s openly admitted she wanted to ruin my life. Paul Russell’s been Googling on his phone a week before this happened the fastest way to commit suicide.
"I know it’s not the nicest thing. He was under so much pressure to pay me the money.
"He bumped into a friend of mine and he told me that. He told him I’ve been Googling the fastest way to commit suicide, he just said he was feeling depressed and things like that."
Cashman told the court that he was picked up by a man called Craig Byrne on Aspes Road shortly after 9pm on the night in question, after which they dropped bin bags of rubbish at a facility at Yewtree Cemetery. 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."
Mr Cooper 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.”
Mr Cooper reminded Cashman of the crimes he is accused of. He asked his client: "Did you commit any of these offences?"
Cashman appeared to become tearful as he said: “No, I’m getting blamed for something I haven’t done.”
After taking a deep breath, he continued: "I’m getting blamed for killing a child. I’ve got my own children.
"I’m not a killer, I’m a dad. I’m getting blamed for something I haven’t done."
David McLachlan KC, prosecuting, then began cross-examining Cashman. He asked about a pair of Monterrain tracksuit bottoms, which he was recorded on CCTV wearing two days after the murder at a block of flats at the Decks in Runcorn.
The prosecution alleges that the trousers are identical to a pair the gunman was recorded wearing on CCTV at the time of the shooting on Kingsheath Avenue. However, no such pair has been recovered.
Under questioning from Mr McLachlan, Cashman accepted the pair he was wearing during a "chill break" in Runcorn were Monterrain tracksuit bottoms, which he said he had "probably bought" from JD Sports or Footasylum.
When pressed on where the tracksuit bottoms are now, he said he did not know and added: "Yous are suggesting that I’m the gunman, which I’m not. You’re suggesting I done this shooting in these pants I’m seen two days later in.
"[The witness] is suggesting she got rid of those pants for me. I’m seen with them tracksuit bottoms on.
"If she’s got rid of my tracksuit bottoms, why have I got them on two days later? Would I be wearing the same tracksuit bottoms two days later?”
Mr McLachlan said: “Tell us where they are then?”
Cashman replied "This is what I don’t know. They’re somewhere.
"I stay in Grenadier Drive. I stay in Runcorn, I stay in the flat on Baycliffe.
"Just before this I went on a little canal boat with John [Wynne]. Them pants are somewhere.
"The pants are somewhere. I haven’t got rid of them."
Cashman also suggested that that brand of tracksuit was "worn by everyone". He said: "Everybody wears them tracksuit bottoms and them trainees I wear."
Mr McLachlan asked: “Who?” Cashman replied: “Everybody in the whole of Liverpool. When something comes out, everyone goes mad about it.
"Everybody’s wearing Monterrain. It’s just what happens over the years and years.
"Loads of people wear them tracksuit bottoms. They’re common.
"It’s like years ago when Lacoste come out. Berghaus came out.
"Everyone went mad about Monterrain. As the woman said, they were the best selling pants."
Day 14 - Thursday, March 23
The trial was delayed for more than two hours after a door between the cells and the dock of the courtroom "failed". The jury were left waiting while an engineer was called to courtroom one at Manchester Crown Court to fix the door so that Cashman could be brought into court to continue giving evidence.
Shortly after midday, judge Mrs Justice Yip called the jury into the courtroom and explained what had caused the delay. She said: "I'm very sorry for the delay.
"The reason was as simple as a failed door lock, meaning the defendant could not get from the cells to the courtroom. It’s frustrating for everyone, not least for Mr Cashman who is in the middle of his evidence, but we have checked and he is ready.”
Cashman then belatedly began giving evidence for a third day. Mr McLachlan pressed Cashman on his movements in the two hours before the fatal shots were fired at 10pm.
Cashman told the jury he could not remember "every little thing" he did that day but repeatedly denied "scoping out" Joseph Nee, who was inside the home of Timothy Naylor on the corner of Finch Lane and Kingsheath Avenue. Mr McLachlan pointed out that Cashman last went to his home address on Grenadier Drive at 8.22pm and stayed for only eight minutes before leaving again.
Mr McLachlan asks: “You stayed at home for eight minutes. Why only eight minutes?”
Cashman replied: “I couldn’t tell you why, I just went out. It was still light out."
Mr McLachlan asked "were you starting to get excited?", which Cashman denied. The prosecutor followed up: "Starting to get into the murder frame of mind?".
Cashman replied: "No I wasn’t getting into no murder frame of mind whatsoever". Mr McLachlan asked where he was going after leaving home at 8.30pm.
Cashman replied: "I’m not sure where I’m going. I went up Finch Lane, then I’ve took a route and I’ve went onto Kingsheath."
He told the jury he may have been "going to a friend's house" on Ruscombe Road. When asked the friend's name, he said: "Lenny", but declined to give a surname.
Mr McLachlan asked about a journey Cashman said he made to Yewtree Cemetery, with his friend Craig Byrne, before the shooting to "drop some rubbish" into large commercial bins sited there.
Mr McLachlan pointed out this journey was not mentioned in his defence statement, issued before the trial. He said: "How long did it take to get rid of the rubbish?”
Cashman replied: "I didn’t get rid of the rubbish, Craig got rid of it.
"Craig jumped out. I wasn’t going near it.
"He jumped back in the van and we got off. A couple of minutes, I’m not sure how many bags.”
Mr McLachlan asked: “Were you meeting him to pick up anything else from the cemetery?", to which Cashman replied: "Definitely not."
Mr McLachlan asked Cashman why he "forgot" to mention it in his defence statement. Cashman replied: “There’s loads of things in that statement I did not put in.”
When asked if he was telling the jury the witness is a woman trying to "stitch him up", Cashman replied: "It is - a woman scorned, it shows you the lengths a woman who’s got something in for someone would go to. This is how low they go to."
Cashman told the jury that before the shooting he asked Mr Russell "where's my money", and was told Mr Russell would "sort it" and could pass £5,000 and some cannabis to Cashman's associate, Craig Byrne, as part payment. However, Cashman said he later heard from Mr Byrne that Mr Russell had only paid £2,500 and some "scraps", referring to low quality cannabis.
Mr McLachlan played some CCTV from the day after the murder showing a van outside the home of the witness. It appeared to pass and then reversed back towards the house.
Cashman told the jury he was there to see a relative but spotted Mr Russell in the garden. He said: “I saw Paul Russell in the garden.
"I said to my mate, stop, reverse. I said ‘what the f***, you’re taking the p**’.
Mr McLachlan asked: “Did it get more serious?". Cashman replied: “He was taking the p***.
"I told him if he doesn’t pay the money, I’ll take his graft phone and car. I’d take it.”
Mr McLachlan asked: “What if he didn’t give it to you?"
Cashman responded: “If he didn’t give it me, well, he would have ended up getting a punch or something.”
Mr McLachlan asked Cashman whether that represented "the world in which you live and work".
Cashman replied: “If I let people do that all the time I wouldn’t be able to sell cannabis. I would have took the graft, I would have took the car.
"He’s got a nice car. To pay the bill off.”
Mr McLachlan said: “I’ll use a term I’m sure you will understand. You can’t let people rip you off?”
Cashman agreed, saying: "I can’t let people take the p***.
He later added: "I hold my hands up. I’m a drug dealer.
"I’m not a bad drug dealer who sells class A drugs. I don’t do anything bad.
"I always grew up smoking cannabis. Some people may look at that as a very bad thing, I don’t look at it as I am a bad person for doing that.”
Towards the end of his cross-examination, Cashman was shown CCTV footage of the shooting. He looked down at the television screen in front of him before being asked "that's you, isn't it?".
He responded: "No, it's not me. Joseph Nee's even put it in his statement."
Justice Amanda Yip stopped him at this point. The judge said: "He didn’t ask a question about what somebody else said."
Mr McLachlan continued: "You’re not prepared to own this because you killed a little girl."
Cashman replied: "I did not kill a little girl. Is my DNA anywhere on the house on Kingsheath Avenue?
"Could you tell the jury that please? If my DNA was there, you’d tell the jury.
"Joseph Nee’s give a name in of the suspect who did it - is this person’s DNA on the door of the house? You can’t answer that."
Olivia's mum Cheryl Korbel then walked out of the courtroom.
Day 15 - Friday, March 24
Nicholas McHale gave evidence from behind a screen after being called as a witness. Mr Cooper asked the 32-year-old how he knew Cashman.
He said he had known him "all me life". Mr McHale added: "Over the past two or three years we’ve got really close."
Mr McHale said he had rented out his home on Snowberry Road to Cashman while he stayed with his cousin on Lark Lane for a period, but later return home. He said: "[Cashman] had found a place with his missus and the kids.
"I was struggling financially. He sold cannabis on a high level, so I asked is there any chance I could make any money.
"Can I start selling cannabis, basically. He wanted to store cannabis in me house, I fully agreed.”
Mr McHale told the jury on the evening of August 22 he watched the Manchester United vs Liverpool match at home on Snowberry Road with a friend, Paul McCarthy. The jury has heard the match ended around 10 minutes before Olivia was shot dead at 10pm.
Cashman has told the jury he was with his friend Craig Byrne, who lives opposite Mr McHale, counting £10,000 cash and smoking cannabis at the time Olivia was killed. Mr McHale said he went to his front door for a cigarette shortly after full time, which he estimated was around 9.50 to 9.55pm, and saw Cashman and Mr Byrne outside.
Mr McHale said Cashman asked him how he was, and he replied he was "stressed about the football". He told the jury Cashman, who "wasn't into football", laughed at him for being stressed before Mr McHale went back into his house.
Under cross examination, Mr McLachlan asked: "Why are you here Mr McHale?”
He replied: “Because I know Thomas Cashman is innocent.”
Mr McLachlan asked: “Were you put up to being here?
But Mr McHale denied this. During the afternoon session, Mr McLachlan asked: "Have you been following this case?"
The witness replied "Bits, bits of it yeah. I’ve been reading it on the ECHO.
"A little browse now and again. He’s my mate."
Mr McLachlan put to him "have you been paid to be here?". But Mr McHale denied this.
When asked "why are you here?", he responded: "Because I believe and know Thomas Cashman is innocent."
Mr McLachlan then pointed to the dock as he asked: “Are you telling the truth? Or are you trying to bail him out."
Mr McHale replied "I'm telling the truth" and denied that he had been "put up to it" by Cashman. He added that he was "known in the area as a big time drug dealer".
Professor John Cooper KC, defending, earlier pointed out that the witness had been wearing a Monterrain t-shirt and Nike trainers as he gave evidence - being asked to take one of his shoes off to show jurors at one stage. The trial previously heard that both Cashman and the gunman had been wearing similar Monterrain tracksuit bottoms and Nike trainers, with the defendant asserting that such clothing is commonly worn in Liveprool.
Mr McLachlan asked of Mr McHale: "You’ve come dressed today with your Cruyff trainers on. Have you got Nike trainers?"
He responded "I've got Nike trainers yeah". Mr McLachlan continued: "You’ve got your Monterrain top on, is that just what you’d wear of a day?"
Mr McHale agreed and said he too had a pair of Monterrain trackies. The prosecutor asked: "Do all the lads have them in Dovecot?"
The witness said "yeah, it’s a popular brand". When Mr McLachlan enquired "everybody's mad for Monterrain in Dovecot?", Mr McHale replied: “That’s correct, yes.”
He also confirmed that he was on a "TikTok date" with a woman in Alderley Edge on the afternoon of August 22 and was later sending "flirty" messages to Cashman's niece Bobbi Bailey. Mr McHale said of this: "We always have flirty banter, I’ve always fancied her."
Mr McLachlan finished his questioning by again pointing to the dock and asking: “You’re willing to stand there and say, at 10 o’clock, you’ve seen that man?”
Mr McHale said: "That’s correct, ‘cos I did."
Mr McLachlan replied: "I put it to you squarely, you are a liar."
The witness stated: "I'm not."
Justice Yip told the jury that the defence case was coming to a close, with “loose ends” to be dealt with on Monday. She said: "The next stage will be for me to give legal directions, then you will hear from the counsel, first Mr McLachlan and then Mr Cooper, and then I will sum up the case to you.
"We are coming to the end of the case. At some point next week, you will be retiring to consider your verdicts."
Cashman denies murdering Olivia, the attempted murder of 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.
READ NEXT: Everything heard during the first week of Olivia Pratt-Korbel murder trial
What the jury heard during week two of Olivia Pratt-Korbel murder trial
Olivia's mum walks out of court as Thomas Cashman says 'I didn't kill a little girl'
Thomas Cashman claims he was 'smoking spliff and counting £10,000 cash' when Olivia shot
Thomas Cashman in tears as he tells murder trial 'I'm not a killer, I'm a dad'
