Police on alert as Olivia Pratt-Korbel's murderer is sentenced

Armed police form a ring of steel around court as Olivia Pratt-Korbel’s murderer Thomas Cashman is sentenced today – after gangsters ‘put a £250,000 bounty on his head’

• Thomas Cashman, 34, was found guilty last week of murdering the nine-year-old 

Armed police formed a ring of steel outside Manchester Crown Court today as a Liverpool gangster prepares to be sentenced for the murder of nine-year-old Olivia Pratt-Korbel. 

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

The jury also found him guilty of the attempted murder of Nee and two counts of possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life.

There was extremely tight security around Manchester Crown Court today prior to Cashman’s sentencing, with firearms officers forming a ring around the building. 

A £250,000 bounty has allegedly been placed on the killer’s head amid fears that he will ‘grass’ fellow gang members to lighten his sentence, it was reported last night.

There was extremely tight security around Manchester Crown Court today prior to Thomas Cashman’s sentencing, with firearms officers forming a ring around the building

Cashman’s links with violent organised criminals will have prompted the security precautions 

Cashman, 34, will be sentenced today at Manchester Crown Court 

A gang insider told The Sun that a bounty to ‘silence him’ was issued and has already been circulating in the north and around jails.

The source added that there are several people ‘who will not think twice about carrying it out’.

Murderer demanded half his £100k hitman fee despite failing to kill target Joseph Nee 

News of the bounty was publicised on encrypted messaging app Telegram, the source said.

Those who ordered the hit are understood to worry that Cashman will turn over information about gang executions and unsolved murders in an attempt to improve the terms of his imprisonment.

There is concern his testimony would cause a ‘world of pain’ for several big organised crime bosses who ‘do not want their activities being looked at’.

‘He has nothing to lose — he is cornered,’ the source said.

‘There’s lifers who will be mixing with him in months and years to come who will not think twice about carrying it out.’

The insider added that Cashman ‘knows everything there is to know about organised crime, drugs and violence’ in Merseyside.

The convicted killer claimed in court that he was only a cannabis dealer, but was allegedly known as a hitman who ‘thought nothing of putting a bullet in someone’.

A prison van arrives at the building prior to the murderer’s sentencing 

A firearms officer wearing a mask over  his face stands guard outside court 

Olivia (pictured) was shot by Cashman as he aimed at drug dealer Joseph Nee, 36, who had run into her house moments earlier

Cashman next to a waxwork of the late Queen with his fingers in a gun gesture pointing at the figure’s head

Gang bosses have reportedly  issued a £250,000 bounty to ‘silence’ Cashman (pictured in a court sketch on Thursday after the verdicts were read out) amid fears he will ‘grass’ fellow criminals. News of the bounty has been circulating in the north and around jails 

Cashman killed Olivia and injured her mother Cheryl Korbel, 46, as he chased convicted drug dealer Nee into their home on August 22 last year.

He had tried to carry out the hit on Nee while he was walking home from a friend’s house, but his gun jammed and the target fled, barging into Olivia’s home in a bid to save himself.

Was the decision of Cashman’s girlfriend Kayleeanne to wear pink the final insult?

Even though Cashman murdered nine-year-old Olivia and failed to kill Nee, he reportedly demanded half of his £100,000 hitman fee.

Cashman was given the order to kill Nee because he owed a crime family a drugs debt, a source previously told The Sun.

They said: ‘Cashman has no heart. Everyone knew that Olivia had been fatally wounded but he didn’t seem to care, despite being a dad himself.’

The youngster’s devastated family cried tears of relief on Thursday when the jury at Manchester Crown Court unanimously convicted him of Olivia’s murder.

The career criminal was also found guilty of the attempted murder of Nee, as well as wounding with intent to do grievous bodily harm to Olivia’s mother. 

He was further convicted of two counts of possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life. 

Cashman, a father-of-two, insisted 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. 

Terrifying CCTV footage showed a gun-wielding Cashman (in blue) hunting his intended target, Joseph Nee (in red)

Footage of Cashman hunting Nee  was released by Merseyside Police following Thursday’s verdict. Thomas Cashman (referred to as TC) can be heard shooting at his intended target

A bullet hole in the front door of Olivia Pratt-Korbel’s family home, where the schoolgirl died

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’.

Giving evidence from behind a screen, Cashman’s former lover said she ‘ruined her life’ to help put the killer away.

She described how drug dealer Cashman had jumped over back gardens to seek refuge at her home on the night of August 22 last year.

After realising he had killed nine-year-old Olivia, she reported the man she had been ‘infatuated’ with to the police – putting her own life on the line in the process.

As the star witness at Cashman’s 18-day murder trial, she had to provide humiliating and tawdry details about the couple’s affair, including the size of Cashman’s genitalia. 

Cashman insisted 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. Pictured: An artist impression of Thomas Cashman giving evidence at Manchester Crown Court during his trial

Olivia was killed during the botched hit job on a convicted drug dealer

Having become pivotal to Cashman’s conviction, she is said to have faced more threats than any witness Merseyside Police has ever dealt with. 

Cashman, who is facing decades behind bars, told the court she was a ‘woman scorned’ and accused her of lying because she wanted to ‘ruin’ his life. 

The woman has since been granted a lifetime of anonymity under the witness protection scheme and is believed to have been moved out of Liverpool.

Cashman was left sobbing in the dock after he was found guilty of murder.

It came as CCTV revealed the moment he carried out the shooting and police released bodycam footage of his arrest. The killer was pinned to the ground by armed officers but protested his innocence and complained: ‘Some c*** has stitched me up.’

There were gasps and then tears of relief from Olivia’s relatives when the jury returned their unanimous verdicts. 

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