The great-grandmother of murdered nine-year-old Olivia-Pratt Korbel tragically passed away last night, it has emerged, just hours before her killer was brought to justice.
Thomas Cashman, 34, was sentenced to a minimum of 42 years at Manchester Crown Court on Monday after murdering the schoolgirl at her home in Dovecot during a botched gangland assassination on August 22 last year.
But Olivia’s mother Cheryl Korbel, 46, said her ‘nan sadly passed away’ aged 92 on Sunday evening. She had been receiving end-of-life care at home after a recent stint in hospital.
Ms Korbel revealed the cruel twist of fate during a victim impact statement – which was read to the court after Cashman refused to leave his cell, forcing the judge to sentence him in absentia.
While Olivia’s great-grandmother, ‘who adored Liv and Liv her’, did not witness Cashman’s sentencing, Ms Korbel told the court she ‘held out long enough to hear that coward had been found guilty’.
Olivia’s family arrive outside Manchester Crown Court ahead of the sentencing of the nine-year-old’s killer, Thomas Cashman, 34. Pictured is Olivia’s mother Cheryl Korbel clutching a toy (centre)
Olivia was killed at her home in Liverpool by Thomas Cashman, who had been trying to killer a drug dealer when he shot through Olivia’s front door
She said she had not been able to spend ‘enough quality time’ with her grandmother because her main focus had been the trial.
She added that Olivia would never get to make her Holy Communion, wear a prom dress or have a 16th birthday party.
She said: ‘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 tell her she will live on in my heart, she will always be with us. My little shadow.’
Ms Korbel said her daughter had been due to have her hair cut five days after her death and wanted to donate 12 inches of hair to the Princess Trust ‘for sick kids to have beautiful wigs’.
The grieving mother had arrived to the court today clutching a patchwork ‘memory’ teddy made from her slain daughter’s pyjamas, hoping to see justice served to Cashman in person – which she was ultimately denied.
Drug-dealer Cashman, however, will be 76 years old before he is eligible for parole after also being sentenced for the attempted murder of his intended target Joseph Nee, 36, the wounding with intent of Olivia’s mother and two counts of possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life.
In her emotional statement to the court, Ms Korbel described Liv a ‘girly girl who loved to play with makeup and shoes with heels on.’
She said: ‘She had her own style and would wear what she wanted to wear, even though often it didn’t match.
‘As Ryan and Chloe got older and began doing their own things, it began to become mostly me and her. We were always together.
‘Each evening was different with Liv. One night we would be watching Matilda, the next night she would sneak up to Ryan’s room while he was out so she could watch YouTube on her iPad.
Cashman, 34, will be sentenced today at Manchester Crown Court
Court artist sketch by Elizabeth Cook of Cheryl Korbel, 46, the mother of Olivia Pratt-Korbel, giving her witness statement at Manchester Crown Court
‘Liv never stopped talking. 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 anything to have her chatting to me. It’s so lonely without her. Everything is so quiet. I can’t cope with the silence.’
Ms Korbel described returning to the family home after Olivia’s death.
She said: ‘Right in 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.’
She said she was unable to give CPR to Olivia properly because she had been injured.
She added: ‘My worst nightmare was being separated from Liv, 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 Cashman continued to shoot after hearing the terrified screams and utter devastation he had caused.
‘He doesn’t care. His actions have left the biggest hole in our lives.
‘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.’
Cashman’s no-show came as armed police formed a ring of steel around the court house amid claims crime bosses put a £250,000 bounty on his head over fears he will ‘grass’ fellow gang members to lighten his sentence.
John Cooper KC told the court Cashman had not attended because he was aware that the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) were singing We Are The Champions following the verdict in his trial.
He said: ‘He has been spoken to and been given certain advice but he is concerned that the matter is turning into a circus.’
Mrs Justice Yip said she regarded his lack of attendance as ‘disrespectful’ to not only the court but those interested in proceedings, including the family of the deceased. Cashman’s family were not in court for the hearing.
Responding to the news that Cashman had not attended court, a Ministry of Justice (MoJ) source told the PA news agency: ‘Olivia Pratt-Korbel and her family weren’t able to hide from Thomas Cashman’s crime – so he shouldn’t be able to hide from justice.
‘This is exactly why the Deputy Prime Minister is committed to changing the law so that offenders are forced to face the consequences of their actions.’
In her impact statement Ms Korbel also told the court how her mind ‘keeps telling me I’ve forgotten to pick her up from school.’
Devastated: Olivia’s loved ones are pictured walking into Manchester Crown Court to watch the sentencing of Thomas Cashman
She continued: ‘Everything I do and everywhere I go is a constant reminder that she is not with me.
‘This happened in our home where we felt safe and should have been safe. Packing my baby’s things in a box – no mother should ever have to do that.
‘I can’t get my head around how Cashman continued to shoot after hear the terrified screams, the utter devastation he’d caused. He doesn’t care, how could he?… Ryan, Chloe and I are just existing day to day and have been since it happened.’
Reading her own statement to the court, Olivia’s sister Chloe, 18, said: ‘August 22 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 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 I can’t wake up from.’
It comes after a gang insider told The Sun that a bounty to ‘silence’ Olivia’s killer was issued and has already been circulating in the North and around jails.
The source added that there are several people ‘who will not think twice about carrying it out’.
News of the bounty was publicised on encrypted messaging app Telegram, the source said.
Those who ordered the hit are understood to worry that Cashman will turn over information about gang executions and unsolved murders in an attempt to improve the terms of his imprisonment.
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There is concern his testimony would cause a ‘world of pain’ for several big organised crime bosses who ‘do not want their activities being looked at’.
‘He has nothing to lose — he is cornered,’ the source said.
‘There’s lifers who will be mixing with him in months and years to come who will not think twice about carrying it out.’
The insider added that Cashman ‘knows everything there is to know about organised crime, drugs and violence’ in Merseyside.
The convicted killer claimed in court that he was only a cannabis dealer, but was allegedly known as a hitman who ‘thought nothing of putting a bullet in someone’.
Cashman killed Olivia and injured her mother as he chased convicted drug dealer Nee into their home on August 22.
He had tried to carry out the hit on Nee while he was walking home from a friend’s house, but his gun jammed and the target fled, barging into Olivia’s home in a bid to save himself.
There was extremely tight security around Manchester Crown Court today prior to Thomas Cashman’s sentencing, with firearms officers forming a ring around the building
Olivia (pictured) was shot by Cashman as he aimed at drug dealer Joseph Nee, 36, who had run into her house moments earlier
A prison van arrives at the building prior to the murderer’s sentencing
A firearms officer wearing a mask over his face stands guard outside court
Cashman next to a waxwork of the late Queen with his fingers in a gun gesture pointing at the figure’s head
Gang bosses have reportedly issued a £250,000 bounty to ‘silence’ Cashman (pictured in a court sketch on Thursday after the verdicts were read out) amid fears he will ‘grass’ fellow criminals. News of the bounty has been circulating in the north and around jails
Even though Cashman murdered nine-year-old Olivia and failed to kill Nee, he reportedly demanded half of his £100,000 hitman fee.
Cashman was given the order to kill Nee because he owed a crime family a drugs debt, a source previously told The Sun.
They said: ‘Cashman has no heart. Everyone knew that Olivia had been fatally wounded but he didn’t seem to care, despite being a dad himself.’
The youngster’s devastated family cried tears of relief on Thursday when the jury at Manchester Crown Court unanimously convicted him of Olivia’s murder.
The career criminal was also found guilty of the attempted murder of Nee, as well as wounding with intent to do grievous bodily harm to Olivia’s mother.
He was further convicted of two counts of possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life.
Cashman, a father-of-two, insisted that around the time of the shooting he had been at a friend’s house where he counted £10,000 in cash and smoked a spliff.
Terrifying CCTV footage showed a gun-wielding Cashman (in blue) hunting his intended target, Joseph Nee (in red)
Footage of Cashman hunting Nee was released by Merseyside Police following Thursday’s verdict. Thomas Cashman (referred to as TC) can be heard shooting at his intended target
A bullet hole in the front door of Olivia Pratt-Korbel’s family home, where the schoolgirl died
During his evidence, he told the court: ‘I’m not a killer, I’m a dad.’
But a woman who had a fling with Cashman told the jury he came to her house after the shooting, where he changed his clothes and she heard him say he had ‘done Joey’.
Giving evidence from behind a screen, Cashman’s former lover said she ‘ruined her life’ to help put the killer away.
She described how drug dealer Cashman had jumped over back gardens to seek refuge at her home on the night of August 22 last year.
After realising he had killed nine-year-old Olivia, she reported the man she had been ‘infatuated’ with to the police – putting her own life on the line in the process.
As the star witness at Cashman’s 18-day murder trial, she had to provide humiliating and tawdry details about the couple’s affair, including the size of Cashman’s genitalia.
Cashman insisted that around the time of the shooting he had been at a friend’s house where he counted £10,000 in cash and smoked a spliff. Pictured: An artist impression of Thomas Cashman giving evidence at Manchester Crown Court during his trial
Having become pivotal to Cashman’s conviction, she is said to have faced more threats than any witness Merseyside Police has ever dealt with.
Cashman, who is facing decades behind bars, told the court she was a ‘woman scorned’ and accused her of lying because she wanted to ‘ruin’ his life.
The woman has since been granted a lifetime of anonymity under the witness protection scheme and is believed to have been moved out of Liverpool.
Cashman was left sobbing in the dock after he was found guilty of murder.
It came as CCTV revealed the moment he carried out the shooting and police released bodycam footage of his arrest. The killer was pinned to the ground by armed officers but protested his innocence and complained: ‘Some c*** has stitched me up.’
There were gasps and then tears of relief from Olivia’s relatives when the jury returned their unanimous verdicts.
He is also due to be sentenced for the attempted murder of intended target Joseph Nee, 36, the wounding with intent of Olivia’s mother Cheryl Korbel, 46, and two counts of possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life.
Cashman’s no-show came as armed police formed a ring of steel around the court house amid claims crime bosses reportedly put a £250,000 bounty on his head over fears he will ‘grass’ fellow gang members to lighten his sentence.
John Cooper KC said Cashman had not attended as he was aware that the CPS were singing We are the Champions following the verdict in his trial.
He said: ‘He has been spoken to and been given certain advice but he is concerned that the matter is turning into a circus.’
Mrs Justice Yip said she regarded his lack of attendance as ‘disrespectful’ to not only the court but those interested in proceedings, including the family of the deceased.
Cashman’s family were not in court for the hearing.
and the wounding with intent of Mrs Korbel, 46, as he chased convicted drug dealer Joseph Nee into their home in Dovecot on August 22 last year.
