Inside Thomas Cashman’s sick secret life as gunman for hire who killed Olivia Pratt-Korbel posed as doting family man
THE gunman who murdered nine-year-old Olivia Pratt-Korbel was a “trigger happy gangster” available for hire.
But Thomas Cashman, who faces life behind bars for the horrific killing of the schoolgirl in her home in Liverpool last year, posed as a respectable and doting family man, it has emerged.
The 34-year-old lived on a modern housing estate and spent much of his time out walking his dog.
Neighbours regularly heard him playing with his daughter in their garden and spending time with his girlfriend Kayleeanne Sweeney, who ran a nearby beauty salon.
However, his seemingly normal behaviour was all for show.
He was actually a feared enforcer for one of the UK’s most powerful and secretive crime groups who had made a name for himself on Merseyside as a terrifying hitman.
The Huyton mafia work with the Kinahan Cartel – an Irish-based drug gang now hit with a raft of sanctions by the US government.
Police and the UK’s FBI have been at war with the clan – rooted across Stockbridge Village, Huyton, Croxteth Park and West Derby – for the last decade.
The mob cannibalised the areas, flooding them with drugs and policing the streets with teen thugs.
Enemies were tortured to death and family homes blown up.
The house where Olivia was shot dead, in Dovecot, was in the heart of their territory – a neighbourhood in the stranglehold of brutal dealers.
Cashman was the gang’s protégé, trusted with the task of enforcing the will of feared godfathers, and, until his arrest, he remained a key figure.
Just two weeks before killing Olivia, Cashman was linked to an unsuccessful drive-by attack at Ackers Hall Park – just yards from her family home.
The target, as on the night of the youngster’s murder, was rival gang member Joseph Nee.
Nobody was injured, but bullet casings recovered from the scene on August 8 matched some of those used by Cashman on the night Olivia was shot dead.
Years earlier, Cashman’s name was mentioned after the gangland shooting of Karl Bradley, whose body was discovered in a garden on Penshaw Close – just around the corner from Kingsheath Avenue, where Olivia lived.
Cashman was said to be close to the crime, but was not charged with the murder – believed to have been ordered Huyton mafia godfathers.
An underworld source claims he was known for being ambitious, violent and unafraid to pull the trigger.
The insider, who first met Cashman in 2018, told The Telegraph: “He can’t fight with his hands but he could use a gun and he was willing to use a gun anywhere on anyone.
“Basically his main line of work was being an enforcer alongside people doing cannabis grows.
“And every time these cannabis grows got robbed he would be recruited by the people that were growing them to do the damage.”
‘HAS NO HEART’
Another source told The Sun: “Cashman has no heart. He claimed in court to be a cannabis dealer but everyone knows he was a hitman who thought nothing of putting a bullet in someone.
“He was so desperate to kill Nee that he chased him into Olivia’s home and carried on firing.”
The “ruthless” and “reckless” killer, whom neighbours said had an outward appearance of decency, was this week found guilty of murdering little Olivia in a crime that horrified the nation.
Cashman, who boasted about earning up to £250,000 a year selling weed and having a reputation for driving “high-powered sports cars”, sobbed in the dock as jurors delivered their verdict after nine hours of deliberation.
During the trial, he had tried to frame himself as a harmless, local cannabis dealer who was actually friends with Nee.
He claimed he would gift cash to his mates and had previously bought cars for relatives in need.
Cashman even asked court staff for a tissue to wipe away tears while watching Olivia’s mum Cheryl during evidence.
And he attempted to persuade the jury that he was “a dad not a killer” – despite demanding half his £100,000 hitman fee.
He could use a gun and he was willing to use a gun anywhere on anyone.
Insider
His partner Kayleeanne, who was in court every day, watched as her boyfriend denied killing a young girl around the same age as her own kids.
Detective Superintendent Mark Baker, senior investigating officer, described Cashman’s double life and lavish preferences as “disgusting”.
He added: “He was earning up to a quarter of a million pounds. He’s not paying any tax on that.
“He’s living in a big detached house, he has properties linked to him all across the North West.”
Cashman, also branded a “despicable coward” by cops, will be sentenced on Monday.
Insiders yesterday warned he could do a deal to shop his fellow gangsters to cops in a bid to slash his time.
Cashman blindly fired into Olivia’s family home during a botched gang hit on August 22, 2022.
The youngster was standing behind her mum Cheryl when Nee barged his way into the house.
A bullet missed Nee and instead travelled through the front door and Cheryl’s hand before hitting Olivia in the chest.