Funeral held for murdered nine-year-old Olivia Pratt-Korbel in Dovecot
Video report by Ann O'Connor
The funeral for murdered schoolgirl Olivia Pratt-Korbel has been held in Liverpool.
Family and friends of the nine-year-old gathered at St Margaret Mary's Church in Dovecot to remember the girl who's smile would "light up the room."
Many chose to wear "a splash of pink'" - her favourite colour.
Nine-year-old Olivia was shot dead in her home on Kingsheath Avenue, Dovecot, at around 10pm on Monday 22 August by a gunman chasing 35-year-old Joseph Nee.
Nee had barged inside her house to try to escape after Olivia's mum, Cheryl Korbel, heard loud bangs and opened her front door to see what was going on.
Meanwhile, Olivia's classmates at St Margaret Mary's Catholic Junior School in Huyton did not attend the service.
Instead, they watched a screening of her favourite film - the Roald Dahl classic 'Matilda'.
They are also allowed to wear pink nail varnish, after Olivia once wore it to school, and spent the day hiding her hands from her teachers.
Olivia's coffin travelled in a horse-drawn carriage
The school's 480 pupils have been offered counselling since returning from their summer holidays.
Merseyside Police has also said Home Office funding will be used to provide therapeutic support to other children in the area affected by the devastating loss.
It has now been three and a half weeks since Olivia was killed.
So far, nine people have been arrested in connection with her murder, but no-one has yet been charged.
Tory peer Lord Ashcroft, the founder of charity Crimestoppers, announced he had personally provided a £50,000 reward for new information leading to the conviction of her killers.
On Monday police search teams began scouring the grounds around West Derby Golf Club following a tip-off that the murder weapons had been dumped there. The search remains ongoing.
In an emotional video shared via Merseyside Police, mum Cheryl spoke of her pain and urged those responsible to come forward.
She said: "Everyone that she met, they all fell in love with her.
"She left a mark on everyone that she met and she may well have only been nine but she packed a lot into them nine years.
"She hurt your ears because she never, never, stopped talking and that's what I miss the most, because I can't hear her talk.
"I'm hoping that they come forward so this doesn't happen to anybody else.
"You know you have done wrong so you need to own up, like I've taught my kids. You do something wrong, you own up to it.
"If anyone is hiding these guns they need to speak up, because they need to be off these streets. No one at all should have to go through this."
Her dad, John Francis Pratt, also shared a statement saying: "Words can’t express the pain we are going through after Olivia was so cruelly snatched away from us.
"Those responsible need to know what they have done."