Olivia Pratt Korbel's killer Thomas Cashman denied appeal
Olivia's mum Cheryl and aunt Antonia joined Gamal Fahnbulleh and Zoe Muldoon in the studio
A man who shot and killed a nine-year-old girl has had his application for permission to file for an appeal denied by a judge.
Thomas Cashman, now 35, was jailed for life for shooting the nine-year-old dead at her home in Dovecot, Liverpool, on 22 August 2022.
He was given a 42 year minimum jail term term.
In delivering the decision, Dame Victoria Sharp said: "Having regard to the totality of the offending in this case, and its seriousness which the judge correctly identified, it cannot be sensibly argued that the overall sentencing imposed was excessive let alone manifestly excessive
"It was common ground that a starting point of 30 years of murder involving the use of a firearm was the correct one.
"The uplift of 12 years from that starting point represented a little over half of a sentence on count two alone."
This is the second time his application has been denied. His previous attempt to gain permission to challenge his minimum jail term was rejected by a judge without a hearing in July 2023.
The shooting of Olivia occurred as Cashman was chasing convicted drug dealer Joseph Nee, who tried to run into the little girl’s home 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, with the same bullet killing her daughter.
In May, Solicitor General Michael Tomlinson KC said Cashman, a high-level Liverpool drug dealer, 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.
Mr 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.
Closing the hearing, Dame Victoria Sharp said: "The sentence imposed was a long one. It means the applicant will be well into his 70s before he can be considered for release on licence.
"That, however, is a consequence of the commission by him of these terrible crimes rather than any error of approach on the part of the judge."
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