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Killer Thomas Cashman is to launch a bid to reduce the minimum amount of time he will spend behind bars.
Cashman, now 35, was jailed for a minimum of 42 years after “senselessly” shooting nine-year-old Olivia Pratt-Korbel at her home in Dovecot, Liverpool, on August 22 last year. His application was previously rejected by a judge without hearing.
But he will launch a new bid to cut his sentence at the Court of Appeal later. Three appeal judges – Dame Victoria Sharp, Mrs Justice McGowan and Mr Justice Chamberlain – are listed to oversee a Court of Appeal hearing in London.
The shooting occured as Cashman, then of Grenadier Drive in West Derby, was chasing convicted drug dealer Joseph Nee. Nee attempted to run into Olivia’s house 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. The same bullet however fatally struck Olivia.
In May, Solicitor General Michael Tomlinson KC said Cashman – a high-level drug dealer in Merseyside – would not have his jail term increased. It came after a number of requests were made for the father-of-two’s prison time to be lengthened via the unduly lenient sentence scheme.
Tomlinson said Olivia’s “senseless murder” had “shocked and sickened the nation”, but added: “Having received detailed legal advice and considered the issues raised very carefully, I have concluded Cashman’s case cannot properly be referred to the Court of Appeal”.
Olivia’s mother is among those campaigning for a change in the law to allow judges to force offenders to attend sentencing hearings, after Cashman refused to come up to the dock when he was sentenced.
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