Man who helped Olivia Pratt-Korbel’s killer to be given new identity

The man who helped Olivia Pratt-Korbel’s murderer will be given a new identity when he is released from prison, a court has heard.

Paul Russell, 41, was jailed for 22 months for assisting an offender after he admitted driving Thomas Cashman, 34, and disposing of his clothing after he fatally shot the nine-year-old in Dovecot, Liverpool.

His sentencing hearing at Liverpool Crown Court was told Russell had come forward to police and named Cashman as the killer after discovering a child had been killed in the incident, which happened at about 10pm on 22 August 2022.

The court was told Russell was under police protection and in a safehouse for the whole of September, before he was charged in October.

Tom Schofield, defending, said moments after Russell was charged he was issued with a threat to life notice.

He said it was not clear whether the threat came from Cashman, who Russell was said to be “terrified” of, or from “horrified members of the public”.

He added: “The defendant was initially remanded to a prison in Leeds but, owing to a threat to his safety, he was transferred to a prison in an undisclosed location under an assumed name.”

The court heard he had not seen his children since September and his parents had been relocated out of the Merseyside area.

Mr Schofield said: “When he is released from custody, whenever that will be, he will not be allowed to return to Merseyside and he will be given a new identity and will no doubt be looking over his shoulder for some years to come.

“It would be naive not to recognise that this hardship and disruption he has brought upon himself and, of course, all of that hardship and disruption is but a drop in the ocean of grief that Olivia’s family have had to endure and will continue to endure.”