The mother of Olivia Pratt-Korbel has called on communities to speak out, as other families hit by gun crime have backed her appeal ahead of the third anniversary of her death
The heartbroken mum of nine year old Olivia Pratt-Korbel, who was tragically shot dead in her own home, has joined forces with other families affected by gun crime to urge communities to break their silence.
Olivia was gunned down by Thomas Cashman as he pursued a drug dealer into her Dovecot, Liverpool home on 22 August 2022.
Her tragic death marked the third fatal shooting within a week in Merseyside, following the murder of 28 year old Ashley Dale in her Old Swan, Liverpool home just the day before, and the killing of 22 year old Sam Rimmer in Dingle on 16 August.
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As the third anniversary of her daughter’s death approaches, Olivia’s mother Cheryl Korbel shared: “My little girl was only nine years old when she was shot in her own home. She had her whole life ahead of her and the pain of her loss is indescribable.
“It has been three years since I last heard her laugh, put her to bed or held her hand but the pain of her loss still feels like it happened yesterday. I will never see her grow up, get married, have children of her own or fulfil her dreams and that is devastating.”
Following the trio of murders, Merseyside Police were granted Home Office funding for a Clear, Hold, Build operation, known locally as Evolve, aimed at eradicating crime from communities and rebuilding them.
Ms Korbel added: “Evolve was created to help prevent further tragedies and other families from having to endure the pain we feel every single day. While it’s making a difference we need your help. To keep our communities safest, if you know anything about criminality, please speak out.”
Just last week, Ms Korbel visited Olivia’s Tree – a living memorial in Dovecot – to meet partners from the Evolve programme as well as Tim Edwards, whose daughter Elle Edwards, 26, was tragically shot outside a pub on the Wirral on Christmas Eve 2022.
Mr Edwards revealed that the families had become acquainted in the wake of their shared tragedies. He expressed: “It’s the club that you don’t want to be in and we’re all in that club, so we’re always looking out for each other.”
He praised the Evolve programme, set up in Wirral following Elle’s death, for giving him hope. He added: “Elle should still be here, living her life and making plans for her future. We can’t change what happened to her but we can help stop it from happening to someone else. If you know something, please come forward. Your bravery could save a life and spare another family the pain we live with every day.”
Ashley Dale’s mother Julie described the past three years as a “living nightmare”. Four men – James Witham, Niall Barry, Sean Zeisz and Joseph Peers – were found guilty of the environmental health worker’s murder.
She stated: “We count ourselves one of the ‘lucky’ ones as we have been able to get justice for Ashley. Without the support of the community, who knows where we would be now?”.
“Sadly, there are families who are still waiting for their justice knowing that their loved one’s killers are still out there walking our streets. No parent should have to go through this. Losing a child in such an horrific way and knowing that someone knows who has committed these crimes is just unbearable.
“So I appeal to anyone who may have information that could help give the families the justice they deserve and help ease the lifelong pain they are facing to come forward to police or Crimestoppers.”
Nobody has been charged over Mr Rimmer’s death, who was with mates when gunshots were fired at them by individuals on electric bikes.
His mum, Jo Rimmer, pleaded for anyone who knew the identity of his killers to speak out. She said: “If you know something and you are reading this, please, please speak up. No one will ever know as it will be completely anonymous. Sam was shot in his back. He was turned away from his killers. This image haunts me. In his final moments, was he scared? Was he in pain?
“I died the day Sam did. I function but I do not live. I know the pain of losing Sam will never go but if I see justice for his murder, maybe the family and I can begin to move forward and remember the happy memories of Sam.”