How a love triangle and some Under Armour trackies proved Thomas Cashman killed Olivia Pratt-Korbel

A love triangle and specks of gunpowder on a borrowed pair of Under Armour trackies were the key to unlocking the truth about what happened to Olivia Pratt-Korbel on the night she was shot dead at the age of nine.

Thomas Cashman, 34, of Grenadier Drive in West Derby, was jailed for a minimum of 42 years earlier this week following a three and a half week trial at Manchester Crown Court. The court heard how the gunman shot the schoolgirl in the chest at her home on Kingsheath Avenue in Dovecot on the evening of August 22 last year, while chasing down his intended target Joseph Nee.

Following his conviction, one of the key witnesses, a woman who cannot be named for legal reasons, was praised for her part in bringing the killer to justice. The woman had previously had an affair with Cashman, behind the backs of her partner Paul Russell and Cashman's partner Kayleeanne Sweeney, Liverpool Echo reports.

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The fling had been going on for around two years after an exchange of flirty messages on Instagram. He asked her "do you feel what I feel?", to which she responded: "Why do your eyes undress me all the time?" The relationship continued "on, off for months" but soured after a pregnancy scare.

Cashman had also told Russell's brother that she wanted to move to Spain with him and set up an OnlyFans account. But the rumour got back to her own partner and caused "murder" between them, she said. In court, she denied ever having wanted a relationship with a "thug with a little willy".

On the night of August 22, killer Cashman appeared by her bedside, telling her: "I didn't know where else to go. I trust you." She had dozed off while reading a