Olivia's killer Thomas Cashman makes gun gesture at Queen's waxwork

Chilling photo shows little Olivia’s killer Thomas Cashman making gun gesture next to waxwork of the Queen as the ‘high level’ cannabis dealer is found guilty of murder that shocked the nation

• Facebook photo can be revealed today after killer was convicted on all counts

In a chilling image, Olivia Pratt-Korbel’s murderer smirks as he makes a gun gesture at a waxwork of the Queen. 

Thomas Cashman, 34, is pictured standing next to a model of the late Elizabeth II with his fingers pointing at her head.

His other hand is wrapped tightly around the neck of the waxwork, which shows the Queen wearing her crown and full regalia.  

Cashman, a ‘high-level’ cannabis dealer, shot nine-year-old Olivia dead as he chased his rival Joseph Nee into her home in Liverpool. 

His sick Facebook photo can be revealed today as he was found guilty of Olivia’s murder, as well as the attempted murder of 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.

Thomas Cashman, 34, is seen standing next to a waxwork of the late Elizabeth II with his fingers pointing towards the model’s head

Cashman’s girlfriend Kayleanne Sweeney leaving Manchester Crown Court today

Cashman’s family leave Manchester Crown Court today following his conviction

During the trial, which lasted more than three weeks, the jury at Manchester Crown Court heard the schoolgirl ran downstairs after hearing shots outside, saying ‘I’m scared mummy, I’m scared,’

The bullet which killed Olivia was fired through the front door, hitting Ms Korbel in the hand before striking the schoolgirl in the chest.

Nee, a 36-year-old with a number of previous convictions, was injured before he ran towards the house after three shots were fired from a self-loading pistol in the street on Kingsheath Avenue.

Cashman fired two shots from a revolver into the Korbel family home, one which killed Olivia and the other which became lodged in the door.

He then fled the scene, running across back gardens.

Liverpool ‘born and bred’ Cashman grew up just a 15-minute walk from Olivia’s house on a terrace of council housing with his parents, Stephen – a meat porter – and Angela.

Giving evidence, Cashman said he left school when he was 13 or 14, finding work delivering newspapers and washing cars before getting a job on fairgrounds in Wales.

By the age of 16 or 17 he was smoking cannabis on a daily basis, he said, making selling it a natural progression.

He met his future partner – Kayleanne Sweeney, also now 34 – when they were barely out of primary school, and they were still teenagers when she became pregnant. 

Olivia was fatally shot in her chest at her home in Dovecot, Liverpool, on August 22 last year 

The little girl’s mother, Cheryl Korbel, holds a soft toy with the words ‘My Liv’ on its foot

Olivia’s father, John Francis Pratt, is seen on the left outside court this afternoon 

Cashman told the jury he tried to ‘change my life around’ and stop dealing drugs when he became a father, dabbling instead in selling cars.

But by the time of the shooting he was earning up to £5,000-a-week selling ‘kilos’ of cannabis to contacts living around Finch Lane – the main road at the top of Olivia’s street.

His life of crime helped enable him and Ms Sweeney to afford to live in a £450,000 detached house on an upmarket development where neighbours drive Bentleys and Teslas.

The couple – who have a son aged 14 and a four-year-old daughter – are understood to have been paying £2,000-a-month for the four-bed rented property from the end of 2021, with Ms Sweeney driving a Land Rover Discovery Sport.

In addition, they were renting a luxury two-bed apartment in a block overlooking the River Mersey.

Giving evidence, Cashman said he earned as much as £250,000-a-year through his illicit trade – and insisted he was not ‘a bad person’ as he didn’t sell class A drugs.

He said the money was spent on cars, bikes and holidays. 

A photo Cashman shared on Facebook showing him posing with a fleet of supercars 

Asked in court whether Ms Sweeney knew the source of his extraordinary wealth – more than seven times the average salary for the area – Cashman replied: ‘She never asked me, I never told her.’

However he admitted she and her parents would have had ‘suspicions’ that he was a drug dealer.

At the time of the shooting, Ms Sweeney had her own cosmetics clinic, however the business was dissolved just days before Cashman was charged with murder.

Speaking so softly he had to be asked repeatedly to keep his voice up, Cashman insisted it was a ‘boring’ existence, describing himself as stuck ‘in a rut’ at the time of the shooting.

Exactly what prompted his ‘relentless’ bid to kill Nee – and who supplied the firearms – are questions which detectives are still trying to answer.

The murderer face down on the floor with his hands cuffed behind his back 

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