Real-time police manhunt for fugitive gun murderer of Olivia Pratt-Korbel will be shown in Channel 4 documentary

• The footage was captured at the time of the police operation in hunt last year
• Murderer Thomas Cashman, 34, jailed last month for life with 42 year minimum 

The police manhunt for the murderer of nine-year-old Olivia Pratt-Korbel will be shown in a new Channel 4 true crime series.

Merseyside Constabulary’s exhaustive search for gunman Thomas Cashman, 34, was captured as it happened on camera.

And now footage from the dramatic hunt for the killer, who was jailed last month for a minimum of 42 years, will be broadcast across the UK.

It will be part of a new series following the force’s Major Crime Unit as it tries to solve a series of gun murders which have blighted the area.

The show has been made by LA Productions, which has helped create a number of television favourites including  Broken, which starred Sean Bean.

Olivia was fatally shot in the chest at her home in Dovecot, Liverpool, on August 22 last year 

Thomas Cashman, 34, was jailed for a minimum of 42 years, for murdering nine-year-old Olivia

A source told the Mirror: ‘It’s all very raw and will make for heartbreaking viewing.

READ MORE: Olivia Pratt-Korbel’s murderer Thomas Cashman APPEALS his 42-year prison sentence

‘Channel 4 were filming with Merseyside Police last year when Olivia was killed on her doorstep and they had full access during their hunt for Cashman.’

Child killer Cashman shot dead nine-year-old Oliva at her home in Dovecot, Liverpool last August.

The cowardly drug dealer was sentenced to life in prison with a minimum of 42 years at a hearing he refused to attend.

Cashman had ‘relentlessly pursued’ his gun target, Joseph Nee, into Olivia’s home, where the schoolgirl had left her bed after hearing the commotion.

The trial, which lasted almost four weeks, heard that Cashman had been ‘scoping out’ Nee, a convicted drug dealer, on the day of Olivia’s death.

The jury was told he lay in wait for Nee in Kingsheath Avenue, armed with two guns, and then chased him, firing three shots in the street, when Nee left a house shortly before 10pm.

Nee ran towards the open door of Olivia’s home after her mother had gone out to see what the noise was, the court heard.

The bullet that killed Olivia was fired through the front door, hitting the wrist of Ms Korbel – who was trying to hold the door shut – before striking Olivia in the chest.

There was a ring of steel outside Manchester Crown Court when the trial was heard this year

A woman who had a relationship with Cashman told the jury he came to her house after the shooting, where he changed his clothes and she heard him say he had ‘done Joey’. 

Mrs Justice Yip praised the bravery of the witness, who has been granted lifetime anonymity, and said: ‘The defendant invented a defence designed to humiliate and undermine her.

‘It did not work. She was subjected to lengthy questioning about the most intimate details, but she stood firm.

‘I am sorry that she had to endure that but endure it she did, and her courage is to be applauded.’

Thomas Cashman, 34, was meant to kill drug dealer Joseph Nee, 36, but ended up shooting Olivia through her 46-year-old mother Cheryl’s (pictured) hand on August 22, at their home in Dovecot, Liverpool

During his evidence, Cashman admitted being a ‘high-level’ cannabis dealer. But the father of two told the court: ‘I’m not a killer, I’m a dad.’

The judge accepted that being taken away from his children was a loss for Cashman and for them, but added: ‘It is a loss that he is wholly responsible for.’

A jury took more than nine hours to find Cashman guilty of Olivia’s murder, the attempted murder of Nee, the wounding with intent of Ms Korbel and two counts of possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life.

The Attorney General’s Office last monthreceived a request to review Cashman’s sentence as being ‘unduly lenient’ – but his own lawyers are to appeal for a cut in his jail term.

A spokesperson for Channel 4 said: ‘LA Productions/Channel 4 have been filming with Merseyside Police since 2021 for an observational documentary series that will feature a range of cases.

‘We’re not in a position to talk about any specific cases as they are ongoing and some are not resolved.’

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