Thomas Cashman refuses to attend sentencing for murder of Olivia Pratt-Korbel – watch live

Drug-dealing gunman Thomas Cashman is being sentenced for the murder of nine-year-old Olivia Pratt-Korbel.

Cashman 34, was found guilty last week of murdering the nine-year-old and wounding with intent of her mum Cheryl Korbel, 46, as he chased convicted drug dealer Joseph Nee into their home in the Dovecot area of Liverpool on August 22 last year.

He was said to have been hired to kill Nee by a feared international drug trafficking cartel who suspected the latter of a jail plot to steal a consignment of their cocaine.

Cashman was brought into the court earlier today, but will not be present in the room when his sentence is read out by the judge and he won’t face the victim impact statements.

The senseless violence rocked the community as the family’s world was flipped upside down. Cheryl arrived at court today with a teddy made out of her daughter’s pyjamas.

Heartbroken, she told the court in a family impact statement that “It’s so very lonely without her” and recalled Cashman continuing to shoot even as Olivia’s cries were heard.

Tearfully, she said: “One thing I miss most is hearing her say ‘mum’, I just miss hearing her voice, it’s just so quiet…

“I can’t cope with the silence.”

Mrs Justice Yip said she regarded Cashman’s lack of attendance as “disrespectful” to not only the court but those interested in proceedings, including the family of the deceased.

John Cooper KC said Cashman had not attended as 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.”

Cheryl continued: “This happened in our home where we felt safe and should have felt safe. It’s so hard to go back to the area where I grew up and raised all my three children.

“His actions have left the biggest holes in our lives.”

She added: “I cannot even think of rebuilding our lives without her… Now I have to drive to the cemetery to be close to my daughter.”

A statement on behalf of John Francis Pratt, Olivia’s dad, was read to the court.

“No words can truly make you understand the pain I am feeling at the loss of my beautiful daughter Olivia,” the statement said.

He added: “I am heartbroken, sometimes I just want to end it so I can be with Olivia again.”

It continued: “You have changed my life and my family’s life forever… We will never be a whole family again”.

Olivia’s older sister said the her birth was “the best present I ever received” and “I just loved her so much.”

Before the court, Chloe said: “My family and I are living in a real-life tragedy, and there’s nothing we can do to change that.”

She added: “I miss Olivia, I miss my baby sister, and I miss my best friend. I grieve for what we will never get to do together.”

After deliberating for eight hours, the jury of 10 men and two women found Cashman guilty.

He was also found guilty of the attempted murder of Joseph Nee, guilty of possessing a 9mm self-loading pistol with intent to endanger life and guilty of possessing a revolver with intent to endanger life.

During the 19-day trial, Cashman tried to paint himself as a “high-level” cannabis dealer in the area, but the jury saw through him after hearing how he “scoped” Nee out and lay in wait with guns to shoot him.

CCTV played to the jury shows Cashman, who was identified as the figure in the footage due to a pair of distinctive tracksuits, chasing Need up the road while firing three shots.

Nee ran towards the open door of Olivia’s home as Cashman kept firing. A bullet went through the door, mum Cheryl’s hand and struck Olivia in the chest.

Cashman tried to say he was counting £10,000 in cash at a friend’s house at the time of the shooting.

He also tried to appear emotional at points saying: “I’m not a killer, I’m a dad.”

However, the testimony of one witness blew his version of events out of the water.

The witness, who cannot be named for legal reasons, said they had a “fling” and he went to her house after the shooting where he changed his clothes and told her that he had “done Joey”.

She only came forward after she had “put two and two together” when she saw the news about Olivia.

Paul Russell, 41, who admitted assisting an offender by driving Cashman away from an address after the shooting and passing his clothes to another person, is expected to be sentenced separately at a later date.

It comes as sources told The Sun that top gangsters want Cashman dead for the murder and for other alleged crimes – he has allegedly been linked to three other unsolved deaths.

He has allegedly been looked at as a suspect in the fatal shootings of Nick Ayers, Karl Bradley and Blake Brown.

A source alleged to the newspaper that Cashman “knows everything” about organised crime in the area and it could benefit people fellow criminals to have him silenced.

An alleged £250,000 bounty has been sent to criminals in the region and in jails via the Telegram app.

It is unclear where Cashman, currently in HMP Strangeways, will be moved to after he is sentenced.

In his summing up, David McLachlan KC, for the prosecution, told jurors that Cashman was “the gunman who shot Olivia and he is not prepared to own it.”

He went on: “You know better than anyone when someone is trying to pull the wool over your eyes; that’s what the prosecution say Thomas Cashman is trying to do.”

In the end, the jury disagreed with defence counsel John Cooper KC’s assertion that there was no evidence against Cashman, describing the case against him as a “mad circle that is the prosecution”.