Oliva Pratt-Korbel’s killer refused to attend sentencing after moaning that case was being turned ‘into a circus’ when he heard CPS lawyers singing ‘We Are The Champions’ following guilty verdict
- Thomas Cashman, 34, was sentenced to a minimum of 42 years earlier today
- He reportedly refused to face judge because hearing was turning ‘into a circus’
The hitman who murdered nine-year-old Olivia Pratt-Korbel refused to attend his sentencing after complaining that the case was being turned ‘into a circus’ when he heard CPS lawyers singing ‘We Are The Champions’ following his guilty verdict.
Thomas Cashman, 34, murdered Olivia after he meant to kill drug dealer Joseph Nee, 36, but ended up shooting the nine-year-old through her mother Cheryl’s hand on August 22, at their home in Dovecot, Liverpool.
He was today sentenced to a minimum term of 42 years – but cowered in his cell and refused to face the judge.
Defence barrister John Cooper KC told the court Cashman would not attend the hearing because Crown Prosecution Service officials sung ‘We Are The Champions’ following the verdict in his trial.
Mr Cooper said: ‘He has been spoken to and been given certain advice but he is concerned that the matter is turning into a circus.’
Thomas Cashman, 34, who murdered nine-year-old Olivia Pratt-Korbel, refused to attend his sentencing after complaining that the case was being turned ‘into a circus’
Cashman murdered Olivia Pratt-Korbel (pictured) after he meant to kill drug dealer Joseph Nee, but ended up shooting the nine-year-old through her mother Cheryl’s hand on August 22, at their home in Dovecot, Liverpool
Mrs Justice Yip said she regarded his lack of attendance as ‘disrespectful’ to not only the court but those interested in proceedings, including the family of the deceased.
She added that he would be sentenced in his absence.
Cashman was found guilty last week of murdering the nine-year-old, who was shot in her home in Liverpool last August.
During the 19-day trial at Manchester Crown Court, the jury heard Cashman admitted operating as a ‘high-level’ cannabis dealer in the area.
The court heard he had been ‘scoping out’ Nee, the intended target, on the day of the shooting and lay in wait for him, armed with two guns, as he watched a football match at the house of a friend.
A court artist sketch by Elizabeth Cook of Thomas Cashman (centre) at Manchester Crown Court
Olivia’s mother Cheryl Korbel read a statement outside Manchester Crown Court following the sentencing of Thomas Cashman in Manchester today
Footage played to the jury showed the gunman, wearing tracksuit bottoms which matched a pair worn by Cashman, chasing Nee up Kingsheath Avenue and firing three shots.
READ MORE: Olivia Pratt-Korbel’s mother reads out heartbreaking message to her daughter’s murderer as coward who refused to face her in court is jailed for 42 years
Nee ran towards the open door of Olivia’s family home, after Ms Korbel came out to see what the noise was, and the fatal shot was fired through the front door, the jury was told.
It hit Ms Korbel in the wrist as she tried to shut the door and struck Olivia in the chest.
Cashman, a father of two, said that around the time of the shooting he had been at a friend’s house where he counted £10,000 in cash and smoked a spliff.
During his evidence, he told the court: ‘I’m not a killer, I’m a dad.’
But a woman who had a fling with Cashman told the jury he came to her house after the shooting, where he changed his clothes and she heard him say he had ‘done Joey’.
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.
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