Olivia Pratt-Korbel

On 22 August 2022, Olivia Pratt-Korbel, a nine-year-old girl, was shot by a masked gunman in Liverpool, England, and was pronounced dead the same day at the city's Alder Hey Children's Hospital.

The attack took place at the doorstep of Pratt-Korbel's family home in Dovecot; the intended target of the attack was a 35-year-old gang member who had criminal convictions for drug dealing and burglary.

During the attack, Pratt-Korbel was with her mother.

A shot by the gunman passed through her mother's wrist and Pratt-Korbel's chest.

Thomas Edward Cashman is an English father-of-two born on 4 September 1988 in Liverpool.

Prior to being jailed he was living in West Derby, Liverpool.

Cashman grew up in Liverpool with four siblings.

He left school at the age of 13 before going to work at a fairground in Wales.

He then returned to Liverpool to become a drug dealer and sold cannabis at a small-scale.

His cannabis dealing scale increased as time went on and at the time of his arrest he was earning between £3,000 and £5,000 a week by selling large quantities.

He had 18 previous convictions for 33 offences.

Around 10 pm on 22 August 2022, Pratt-Korbel's mother Cheryl Korbel heard a disturbance outside her family home in Kingsheath Avenue, Dovecot, and opened her front door, with Pratt-Korbel behind her.

Joseph Nee, a 35-year-old "well-established organised crime group member" and one of two men fleeing from an unknown gunman, attempted to force himself into her home.

While Nee attempted to enter the house, the gunman, who was wearing a balaclava and a black jacket, approached the house and shot four times.

One of the bullets went through Cheryl's wrist and into Pratt-Korbel's chest.

The inquest heard that a police officer attempted to save Olivia's life after the shooting.

Nee, the intended target of the attack, was a convicted drug dealer and burglar.

He had been released on licence in 2021, halfway through his sentence.

Pratt-Korbel's siblings were in the house upstairs during the attack.

Pratt-Korbel was later declared dead at Alder Hey Children's Hospital, Liverpool.

Merseyside Police understood that Nee walked away from Pratt-Korbel and her mother to get in an escape vehicle, a black Audi car.

The next day, he was arrested for breaching his licence conditions and was returned to prison.

During the late night of 25 August 2022, a 36-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of the murder of Pratt-Korbel and two counts of attempted murder from his flat in Huyton.

On 30 August 2022, the two men were released.

On 1 September, Merseyside Police released CCTV footage of the gunman.

On 4 September 2022 one man was arrested on suspicion of murder and attempted murder, and two others detained on suspicion of assisting an offender.

On 7 September the suspects were bailed.

On 8 September another man was arrested.

A ninth man was arrested on 10 September 2022.

On 29 September, police arrested a 34-year-old man on suspicion of murder.

On 30 September, a man was arrested on suspicion of assisting an offender.

On 1 October 34-year old Thomas Cashman was charged with the murder, two counts of attempted murder as well as two counts of possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life.

40-year-old Paul Russell was also charged with assisting an offender.

The two men appeared at Liverpool Crown Court on 3 October.

On 21 December 2022, Thomas Cashman appeared at Liverpool Crown Court via videolink from HMP Manchester and pleaded not guilty to all five charges.

Cashman had been apprehended after a tip-off from a former partner, who lived nearby and he had visited shortly after the murder.

She recounted that he arrived in a panicked state and was asking for a change of clothes.

Olivia Pratt-Korbel was an English girl born on 13 June 2013.

Her mother, Cheryl Korbel, was aged 46 at the time of the shooting.

Olivia had an older brother and sister and lived in Liverpool, North West England.