Olivia Pratt-Korbel’s family share heartbreaking videos of nine-year-old laughing & dancing a day after killer jailed
OLIVIA Pratt-Korbel’s family have shared heartbreaking videos of the nine-year-old schoolgirl laughing and dancing – a day after her killer was jailed.
In the clips the tragic youngster’s laugh can be heard and she is seen joking around and performing a catwalk in the living room of her Liverpool home before using a hoover to pull her hair into a ponytail.
Underworld hitman Thomas Cashman, 34, was jailed for life at Manchester Crown Court yesterday and will serve a minimum of 42 years for the “particularly grave” and “chilling” killing.
His bullet missed intended hit Joseph Nee and instead passed through her mum Cheryl’s hand into the middle of Olivia’s chest.
Cashman was also convicted of wounding Cheryl, 46, and of the attempted murder of Nee, as well as two gun-related charges.
In an emotional victim impact statement, Cheryl spoke of feeling “helpless” and not being able to save her daughter due to her own shooting injury.
She also revealed her “worst nightmare” was “being separated from Liv and not being with her when she needed me the most”.
Speaking of her torment following Olivia’s death, Cheryl added: “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.”
She told how the horror happened at home “where we should have been safe” as she revealed how everything was left as it was when the family were forced to leave.
This included cups of tea sat on the table next to a Princess Trust form where kind Olivia was planning to donate her hair and a doll lying on the floor.
Cheryl, who described the experience as “utter heartbreak”, added: “In that moment, I was home. We were back to how our lives were before that night.
“I soaked up the surroundings until reality dawned and brought me back to our living nightmare.”
The mum said Cashman’s evil actions have “left the biggest hole in our lives that can never be filled”.
She told how her family has been waiting for the trial just “existing day-to-day” and “not addressing how broken we are as a family”.
Slamming Cashman, she added: “I cannot get my head around how Cashman continued to shoot after he heard the screams.
“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.”
The mum continued: “My nine-year-old Liv was the light of our of lives. She was a character. She was my baby. She had amazing qualities and knew what she wanted in life.
“She will never get to wear a prom dress, have a sweet 16th birthday, walk down the aisle or become a mother and have children of her own.
Read more on the tragic case:
- Olivia’s mum Cheryl sobbed ‘she will always be my baby’ in an emotional statement
- Cashman will be kept in isolation in prison after a £250k hit was placed on his head
- The killer lied to police when he was arrested in dramatic bodycam footage
- Cashman could be seen fleeing the scene after shooting Olivia
“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 miss her smile, her kisses, her cuddles. She will always be with me, my little shadow.
“We love you endless amounts.”
Olivia’s sister Chloe yesterday paid tribute to her “best friend”, telling the court how the day Olivia died was the “worst day of my life”.
She added: “I felt as though my heart had stopped beating.
“A piece of me left that night and since then I felt as though I’m in a nightmare I cannot wake up from.”
The horror unfolded on August 22 last year in a “pre-planned and ruthless attack” that “went horribly wrong”.
Armed with a pistol and revolver, Cashman “lay in wait” for Nee, 35, to leave a friend’s home where he had been watching the Utd v Liverpool game.
The convicted burglar was shot at on the street before he barged his way into Olivia’s home injured and covered in blood.
Cashman then fired two shots into the house as Olivia “strayed into line of fire'” while “seeking comfort” from her mum.