London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Tuesday, Aug 11, 2026

Olivia Pratt-Korbel: Mum 'knew she had gone', trial hears

Olivia Pratt-Korbel: Mum 'knew she had gone', trial hears

The mother of a nine-year-old girl shot dead in her home cried as she told officers: "I knew she had gone" in an interview played in court.

Cheryl Korbel said the "horrendous" sound of the shot, which went through her wrist then hit Olivia Pratt-Korbel, would stay with her forever.

Thomas Cashman is accused of being the gunman who carried out the attack in Dovecot, Liverpool, on 22 August.

The 34-year-old denies the murder of Olivia and is on trial.

Manchester Crown Court heard how the gunman fired through the front door of the Korbel family home just after 22:00 BST.

He had been chasing Joseph Nee, who is said to have been the intended target, through the street, the trial heard.


'Like a movie'


Ms Korbel often became emotional in the 50-minute video, which was recorded with a police officer a week after the shooting and showed her right arm was bandaged with a visible blood stain.

Many of Olivia's family cried as they listened to her testimony.

Ms Korbel said: "[It was] horrendous. Horrendous... It was like off a movie.

"The sounds that they make... it was the sound of it going through my wrist as well. It's hard to explain the sound."

Mr Cashman watched the video inside the glass-walled dock.

At one point he wiped away tears with his hand and a dock officer gave him a tissue during Ms Korbel's interview.

Ms Korbel told police she had heard bangs outside her home and when she went outside to look, she saw a man coming up the road.

Olivia's mother Cheryl Korbel was also injured in the shooting


She said: "Then I spotted this other lad behind him, dressed all in black, couldn't see his face or nothing, and I realised at that point that it was gunshots because, like, the other one was running after him.

"At that point I realised he was running towards me so I ran back to the house."

Ms Korbel said she closed her front door but it did not shut properly because it was left on the catch.

Speaking through tears, the mother-of-three, said: "I tried to keep hold of the door, I was just screaming, screaming to go away and then I heard the gunshot and I realised, because I felt it hit my hand.

"I couldn't keep the door shut because it wasn't locked, and with my hand I couldn't keep it shut, so I let it go and I think at the same time I heard the baby [Olivia] speak and that's when I turned round and I spotted her sat at the bottom of the stairs.

"I leant over her and like held her to the left, I just huddled over."


'I can't do this'


Ms Korbel said her son Ryan helped her to carry Olivia up the stairs and she shouted for a towel to stop the bleeding.

She added: "Ryan turned round and said to me 'Mum, I can't do this' so I tried to move the baby again up to the top of the stairs.

"I heard the lad downstairs shouting 'please lad, don't' and I heard another gunshot.

"I couldn't keep her awake."

She added: "[Olivia] went all floppy and her eyes went to the back of her head and I realised that she must have been hit because I didn't know until then and I lifted her top up and the bullet had got her right in the middle of the chest."

She said a neighbour came in and started CPR on Olivia.

She added: "I knew she'd gone. Then the police turned up and came up and just picked her up and took her out the house."

Thomas Cashman is accused of murdering the schoolgirl


Ms Korbel said she was taken to hospital for treatment to her hand and while she was there, she was told Olivia "had gone".

"I just went hysterical screaming I wanted my baby," she said.

She described a phone call with a friend who was with Olivia at Alder Hey Children's Hospital.

Ms Korbel told police: "She told me she was with the baby and I told her not to leave her on her own and she promised me that she wouldn't.

"She said she looked like she was sleeping, so I made her promise she wouldn't leave her on her own."

Asked to go through the incident again by a detective taking notes, Ms Korbel said time seemed to slow down as she saw the gunman and another man run towards her.

She said: "Although they were running, it was like it was in slow motion.

"My wrist was, blood was just squirting everywhere. I screamed, 'I've been shot'."

Ms Korbel said she thought she heard Olivia say "mum", and when she turned around her daughter was sat on the second step of the stairs and did not realise what had happened until she carried her daughter further up the steps.

Olivia was standing behind her mother on the stairs


"She was gasping for breath," Ms Korbel said.

"I was screaming for her to stay with me. There was blood everywhere. I kept saying it was mine... but I knew it was not right.

"So I lifted her top, then that's when I realised she had been shot in the chest.

"I was just screaming, 'Please Liv, stay with me'."

After the video finished, the judge, Mrs Justice Yip told the jury: "I'm conscious that this is difficult evidence - I know that you will put your emotions aside when you consider your verdicts but that doesn't mean that we don't feel emotion, and I'm conscious that this is difficult."

Earlier the court heard how Mr Nee, the intended target of the shooting, shouted "please don't" as his friend ran "for his life".

A police interview with Paul Abraham, 41, who was with Mr Nee when the gunman opened fire was shown to the jury.

He said that he and Mr Nee had left a friend's house that evening when he heard loud bangs.

He said: "Both of us ran. One must have got Joey.

"He fell over. I don't even know when he got shot, he just fell.

"As he rolled over I just basically jumped over him and went through a gate."


'Please don't'


Mr Abraham said he saw Mr Nee continue running up the street, and the attacker, with two hands on what he thought was a gun, walking up the road.

He said: "As I was going up the entry [Mr Nee] was saying 'please don't', I heard him shouting 'please, don't'."

Mr Abraham said he thought he heard two further bangs as he jumped over fences of back gardens to get away.

He said: "I was just running for my life, basically."

Mr Cashman, of Grenadier Drive, West Derby, Liverpool, denies the murder of Olivia, the attempted murder of Mr Nee, wounding with intent to do grievous bodily harm to Olivia's mother, and two counts of possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life.

The trial continues.

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
UK Manufacturing Output Records Fourth Straight Month of Growth
UK Condemns Russian Torture of Ukrainian Prisoners and Recruitment of Foreign Nationals
Long-Lost Royal Navy Warship HMS Tiger Found in English Channel After 118 Years
Northern Ireland Finance Minister Seeks Urgent Treasury Talks Over Regional Budget Pressures
UK Government Targets Subscription Traps and Misleading Discounts in New Consumer Rules
Alleged Cartel Boss Daniel Kinahan Extradited From Dubai to Face Criminal Charges
AI Chatbots Challenge Traditional News Consumption and Raise Job Concerns
Andy Burnham Government Promises Crackdown on Exploitative Business Practices
UK University Funding Model Faces Growing Pressure From Unsustainable Student Debt
Government Urged to Subsidise Energy Bills for Vulnerable UK Households
UK Military Spending Plans Threaten to Deepen Infrastructure Funding Gap
Israeli Government Rejects US Peace Framework for Gaza
New Labour Government Signals Closer Economic and Strategic Ties With European Union
Amber Heat-Health Alerts Issued Across England as Temperatures Threaten 36 Degrees
UK Economy Expected to Grow Despite Energy and Supply Chain Shock From Iran Conflict
Foreign Social Media Accounts Drove Disinformation During Belfast and Southampton Riots
Record Number of Migrants Cross English Channel in Single Vessel as Smugglers Deploy Mega-Dinghies
Russia’s A7 Builds a State-Linked Payments Network Beyond Western Sanctions
Reports of Mark Zuckerberg-Linked Superyacht Declining Rescue Assistance Draw Maritime Scrutiny
Preserving Three Banksy Artworks in London Has Cost Taxpayers Nearly £150,000
Four Ugandan Athletes Disappear From Delegation After UK Sporting Events
French Authorities Report Channel Interventions as Cross-Border Migration Dispute Continues
Home Office Admits Error in Settled Status Case Involving Long-Term Italian Resident
Unite Calls for Independent Review of UK Budget Watchdog's Fiscal Forecasting Rules
Thinktank Calls for £175 Annual Energy Bill Cut for Low-Income Households
Foreign-Linked Social Media Accounts Amplified Recent Unrest in Belfast and Southampton, Analysis Finds
London Mayor Sadiq Khan Orders Westminster to Drop Proposed Soho and West End Hospitality Ban
Royal Navy Deployments to Monitor Russian Activity in UK Waters Rise 25 Percent
UK Economy Expected to Grow 0.4 Percent in Second Quarter Despite Geopolitical Pressures
Andy Burnham Launches Cost-of-Living Measures Targeting Subscription Traps and Misleading Discounts
Hyper-Realistic Reborn Dolls Draw Collectors Seeking Comfort and Craft
Gen Z Cuts Back on Dating as a Night Out Nears $200
Patients Turn to Artificial Intelligence for Therapy as Psychiatrists Warn of Privacy and Clinical Risks
Couples Embrace ‘Sleep Divorce’ to Protect Rest and Reduce Tension
Meta Ordered to Pay $567 Million and Change Facebook and Instagram Safeguards for Children
Up to only 10 Months in Prison for Swedish Officer’s Murderer Sparks Anger
Success: Nvidia Turned Gaming Chips Into the Engine of the AI Boom
Jorge Messi, Lionel Messi’s Father and Longtime Agent, Dies at 68
AI’s Next Bottleneck Is Power, Not Just Nvidia Chips
Advertising trick: Pepsi’s Harrier Jet Commercial Led to a $700,000 Court Fight
Meta Raises AI Spending Target to as Much as $145bn Despite Pressure Over Returns
Danube Drought Exposes Nazi Wrecks and Pushes Central Europe’s Power System to the Brink
Joe Biden’s Cancer Has Spread Beyond His Bones, Hunter Biden Says
Air Traffic Control Outage Grounded Flights Across the Midwest
Why 2027 Could Be a Strong Year for Stocks—and Why the Forecast Is Fragile
Why Markets May Look Quiet in August After Big Tech Earnings
Partial Solar Eclipse Expected to Draw Interest Across Southwestern UK
UK Graduate Job Postings Fall 7% as Entry-Level Opportunities Remain Scarce
UK Private Sector Returns to Growth as July Activity Reaches Highest Level Since April
UK Summer Drought and Wildfires Raise Pressure for Stronger Environmental Measures
×