'MY BABY'
Olivia’s killer left the biggest hole in our lives – now I have to go to the cemetery to be close to my baby, mum sobs
OLIVIA Pratt-Korbel's heartbroken mum today sobbed "she will always be my baby" as she told a court how her killer "left the biggest hole in our lives".
Cheryl Korbel was stood in front of the nine-year-old when Thomas Cashman fired into her family home in a botched gang hit.
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Brave Cheryl today arrived at Manchester Crown Court clutching a pink teddy bear made from Olivia's pyjamas, as Cashman was today jailed for life with a minimum of 42 years.
Cashman refused to enter the dock today after his defence claimed he was aware prosecutors sang "We are the Champions" following his conviction.
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".
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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.
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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.
“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 heartbroken dad, John Pratt, added: "Olivia will never call me dad again.”
Cheryl last week held up a teddy bear made out of Olivia's pyjamas outside court in a poignant display after Cashman was convicted of murder.
The mum, who was injured in the horror, told reporters she was "ecstatic" with the verdict, which also saw the killer found guilty of attempted murder and wounding with intent.
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 Joseph 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 moments after Olivia had come to find her mum because of the noise.
Cheryl told how her daughter “went all floppy” and her eyes went to the back of her head before she said something like sounded like “mum”.
The mum-of-three said she yelled out at her son Ryan to help get Olivia up the stairs as she was trying to stem the blood coming from her own wound.
It was then Cheryl realised the youngster had been hit in the middle of the chest as she desperately “gasped for breath”.
Cheryl’s heartbreaking evidence reduced the courtroom to tears as she told police: “There was just screaming. I heard the gunshot. I realised, because it hit my hand.
“I heard the baby screaming and that’s when I turned round and spotted her sitting at the bottom of the stairs.
“I just huddled over her. I lifted her top. That’s when I realised she’d been shot in the chest.”
As her little girl slipped away in her arms, Cheryl shouted out : “Please Liv, stay with me.”
Sobbing in her police interview, she told officers a neighbour came in to start performing CPR but she “knew she’d gone”.
Tragically, Olivia couldn’t be saved and died in hospital later that night.
Her brother Ryan also told how he heard Olivia ran across the landing, saying “I’m scared mummy, I’m scared” as Nee was targeted outside the home.
He said he rushed out of his bedroom to find a Nee lying in the hall and his mum “wrestling” with the door.
As it burst open, Ryan said an arm came round wielding a black handgun as up to two more shots rang out.
In a cruel twist, as the youngster’s family begged Olivia to stay alive in the blood-stained home, Nee stumbled outside and was picked up by five men in a black car after making a call.
Cashman meanwhile was captured on CCTV fleeing the scene as medics battled to save Olivia.
He changed his clothes and told his former lover, who became a key witness in the case, that he had “done Joey”.
Dramatic bodycam footage showed Cashman telling cops “you’re stitching me up” as he was arrested.
The brute continued his shameless lies in court where he wept as he claimed he wasn’t behind the brutal killing.
He told jurors: “I’m getting blamed for killing a child and I have got my own children.
“I’m a dad, I’m not a killer, I’m a dad.
“I’m getting blamed for something I haven’t done.”
The “high-level cannabis dealer” said he was smoking a spliff at the time of the shooting and counting around £10,000 in cash with a pal.
Cashman also claimed the woman who said she heard him confess was “trying to ruin his life” because he won’t leave his partner for her.
He said her boyfriend owed him a £25,000 drug debt so she wanted him “out of the way”.
But the court was told Cashman was just trying “pull the wool” over the eyes of jurors.
David McLachlan KC, prosecuting, said it was a “case that shocked not simply a city not too far away from here but also a nation”.
He said: “The news at the time made front page headlines across the country and this is a case which will live with you forever.”
The tragedy was the third fatal shooting in Liverpool in less than a week after a council worker was killed just two days before.
Ashley Dale, 28, was shot dead just two miles away in her back garden in Old Swan in a case of mistaken identity.
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In a separate bloodbath, Sam Rimmer, 22, was shot dead in Toxteth.
Olivia's death also came 15 years to the day that 11-year-old.
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