Olivia Pratt-Korbel’s killer in appeal court bid to challenge sentence

Thomas Cashman was handed a mandatory life sentence for the murder of the nine-year-old in Liverpool in August 2022.

Thomas Cashman did not appear at the hearing (Merseyside Police/PA) (PA Media)

Olivia Pratt-Korbel’s killer has asked appeal judges to give him the go-ahead to challenge a 42-year minimum jail term.

Thomas Cashman, now 35, was given a mandatory life sentence after being found guilty of murdering nine-year-old Olivia at her home in Dovecot, Liverpool, in August 2022.

His written application for permission to challenge his minimum jail term was rejected by an appeal judge, without a hearing, earlier this year.

A barrister representing him renewed that appeal bid at a Court of Appeal hearing in London on Wednesday.

John Cooper KC told appeal judges Dame Victoria Sharp, Mrs Justice McGowan and Mr Justice Chamberlain that “aggravating features” were too “heavily relied” on when trial judge Mrs Justice Yip passed sentence.

Cashman did not appear at the appeal hearing.

The shooting of Olivia occurred as Cashman, of Grenadier Drive, West Derby, Liverpool, was chasing convicted drug dealer Joseph Nee, who tried to run into the girl’s home in a bid to escape.

Cashman opened fire, hitting Olivia’s mother Cheryl Korbel in the wrist as she tried to keep the door shut on Nee, with the same bullet killing her daughter.

Mr Cooper argued that the “planning” of the crime was given “too much emphasis” by Mrs Justice Yip.

He also said the trial judge had not placed enough emphasis on the age Cashman would be when eligible for release.

And he told appeal judges that there had been an “over emphasis” on Cashman’s “lack of remorse”.