Olivia Pratt-Korbel shooting: Armed robbery of huge drugs stash in 2020 ‘may have been catalyst’

A £1million cocaine heist against a violent criminal gang which shook-up the balance of Liverpool’s criminal underworld may have been catalyst to the horrific shooting of innocent nine-year-old Olivia Pratt-Korbel, it was claimed last night.

Sources with knowledge of the city’s crime syndicates have reportedly claimed that the gang – who were previously thought to be ‘untouchable’ – are ‘still furious’ at being ‘ripped off’ during the raid in May 2020.

According to reports, the thieves burst into a property, close to where Olivia’s family live, and beat up a father and son looking after drugs for the gang.

They then made off with 30kg of cocaine – thought to be worth in the region of £1million. Other estimates suggest the street value of the drugs could be in the region of £2.5million.

Sources told The Sun that the gang are now hunting down those they believe are involved.

And it has been suggested that convicted drug dealer Joseph Nee, 35, believed to be the target of the gun attack that resulted in Olivia’s tragic death, may have been caught up in the gang’s revenge plot.  

Meanwhile, one former Scotland Yard detective today  suggested a gangster serving life in jail was behind the spate of violence that led to Olivia’s killing.

Peter Bleksley told The Mirror: ‘I have been told by a source I consider reliable that much of this violence is being orchestrated by a man who is currently in prison but unfortunately has access to mobile phones and has considerable influence from behind a cell door.

‘Sadly, the trail of evidence for this will lead back to the illegal drugs industry. If you have a business dispute in an illegal industry you can’t go to court to have a resolution, you have to revert to violence.’

Meanwhile, a source told The Sun: ‘The guys that lost the £1million of drugs are the top of the criminal tree in Liverpool.

‘No one could believe anyone would try and rip them off. The cops managed to crack the case by getting into their encrypted phones and some were jailed in May.

‘But the Liverpool gang are still furious about it and have been going after anyone they think was involved.

‘The word is that Nee gathered some information for them.’

The gang were targeted in May 2020 when a  drugs stash house in Croxdale Road West — close to Olivia’s home — was targeted by four men armed with an axe and a baton.

Richard Caswell and Manchester-based brothers Jason and Craig Cox burst into the property and beat a father and son looking after the drugs before stealing 30kg of cocaine.

Some of the drugs were sold to Leon Atkinson, a criminal associate of cop killer Dale Cregan.  

Meanwhile, Nee, who lives in Dovecote, is believed to have been the intended target of the shooting.

He forced his way into Olivia’s family home while trying to flee a masked gunman. The gunman shot Olivia as he chased Nee into the property.

While Olivia lay dying in her mother’s arms, Nee – who was also shot – was taken to hospital by his friends in a black Audi. 

Detective Chief Superintendent Mark Kameen, head of investigations at Merseyside Police, said detectives were speaking to a man who was with Nee at the time of the shooting.

He also said the driver of the Audi had been found and spoken to by police. Mr Kameen said Nee – who police have never publicly named – remained in hospital for treatment and would be returned to prison for breaching his licence.

Olivia’s mother Cheryl was now out of hospital after receiving medical treatment. 

Nee was previously part of an organised criminal gang that were sentenced to 10 years in jail in total for a string of burglaries across North West England – and were caught after he led police on an 125mph chase across Cheshire and Merseyside.

Photographs of a topless Nee in HMP Kirkham, taken in 2019 and understood to have been shared on Instagram by an accomplice, show him standing in the sun with a group of men as he bragged about life behind bars in captions which reportedly read ‘butlins with bars’ and ‘costa del kirkham’.

Kirkham is an open prison which houses 650 men in 24 units. Each unit has a phone and a kitchen, and prisoners have access to a gym and snooker and pool tables.

In 2009, Nee was jailed for six-and-a-half years for serving as a ‘trusted foot soldier’ in a drugs gang that help push heroin and crack cocaine onto the streets of Liverpool.

Offenders with shorter sentences are entitled to automatic release at the halfway point of their term and can be recalled if they get into trouble with the police to complete the remainder of their original sentence. 

Last night it emerged that a relative of Nee had a post on their Facebook account showing next to a caption calling police ‘scum’ and adding, ‘Snitches get stitches’. It is not clear when the post was published. 

Although he has been interviewed by police, a source told The Sun: ‘He’s not being very helpful and not very happy at the idea of going back to prison.’

Merseyside Police Chief Constable Serena Kennedy has urged people to rise up against the ‘anti-grass’ culture in some areas of Liverpool and called on criminals to also assist the police.

But it has since emerged that the Facebook page of one of Nee’s family members contained a post that said police were the ‘scum of the earth’ alongside a chilling warning against informing. It is not clear when the post was published.

Olivia was callously gunned down by a balaclava-clad mobster who also wounded the nine-year-old schoolgirl’s mother Cheryl while chasing a convicted burglar and former heroin dealer into her family home on Monday, in a sickening attack that has appalled the nation. Last night video emerged showing the sound of four gunshots.

It has also emerged that detectives investigating Olivia’s brutal murder believe that they know who the prime suspect is after repeated appeals for information. 

The Daily Mail understands a name given is that of a convicted armed robber jailed for a violent heist on a security van. Detectives have not ruled out a ‘tit-for-tat’ drugs gang turf war as a possible motive.

It comes as police investigating the shooting of nine-year-old Olivia today warned her killer: ‘We will not rest until we find you and we will find you’.

Detective Chief Superintendent Mark Kameen, head of investigations at Merseyside Police, said the force was pursuing a ‘number of very positive lines of enquiry’ in relation to Monday’s murder.

He said it was unclear if the gunman had fled overseas and added ‘we have had a number of names provided to us’.

Addressing the killer, he said: ‘My message remains the same – we will not rest until we find you and we will find you.’

Meanwhile, two people have been arrested following the fatal shooting of council worker Ashley Dale in Old Swan, Liverpool, on Sunday.

The 28-year-old, who worked in the environmental health team at Knowsley Council, was found fatally wounded in the back garden of a house. It is believed that Ms Dale was not the intended victim.

Three men have been arrested on suspicion of the murder of Sam Rimmer, 22, who was shot in Dingle, Liverpool, on Tuesday, August 16 in the third Liverpool gun killing in less than two weeks.

The killings have prompted outrage in Liverpool, with local MP Paula Barker condemning the ‘mindless violence’ that had left residents ‘absolutely horrified’.

Liverpool West Derby MP Ian Byrne has said there is ‘lots of anger out there’ following the shooting of nine-year-old Olivia Pratt-Korbel.

The Labour MP told BBC Radio 4’s World At One programme: ‘It’s been exceedingly difficult listening to obviously the news this morning and then getting more details this afternoon of the horrific incidents around Olivia’s death.

‘It’s been difficult to process for the whole community.

‘There’s lots and lots of anger out there at the moment. There’s lots of outrage, disbelief that this could happen in our community.’

He went on: ‘At the moment, it’s very raw. People are processing what’s happening, getting more information, as you said by the hour, but there’s a lot of fear and a lot of anger out there at the moment.’

Mayor of Liverpool Joanne Anderson, addressing the murdered girl’s family, said: ‘This is absolutely devastating. The pain you must feel right now is unimaginable. This is a tragedy that will shake our communities.’