Intended target of shooting which killed nine-year-old Olivia Pratt-Korbel fined after police find cannabis in his underpants

The intended target of the shooting which killed nine-year-old Olivia Pratt-Korbel has been fined after police found a bag of cannabis in his underpants. Convicted drug dealer Joseph Nee, 37, ran into Olivia's home in Dovecot, Liverpool, to try to escape gunman Thomas Cashman, who continued to fire, wounding Olivia's mother Cheryl and fatally shooting the schoolgirl in August 2022.

Nee was fined £60 for possessing cannabis after appearing at Liverpool Crown Court on Tuesday. Judge Louise Brandon warned him: "I would keep your nose clean if I were you."

Nee, wearing a puffa jacket and jeans, pleaded not guilty to assaulting a police officer on July 12 last year, but that case was dropped after it emerged he had already been sentenced for the incident as a breach of a gang injunction made against him.

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Zahra Baqri, prosecuting, said the case had been reviewed and it had come to light that Nee had been given a suspended sentence at the county court in relation to the same incident. She said the Crown would offer no evidence on the charge of assault on an emergency worker and would withdraw a public order offence Nee had also been charged with.

The defendant, who was shot in the midriff by Cashman, asked the judge if he could stand at one point during the hearing, saying he had "pains". He appeared to be lifting his T-shirt before Judge Brandon told him: "I don't need to see it."

The court heard a bag of cannabis was found within Nee's underwear after he was taken to a police station and strip-searched on July 12. He admitted possession of cannabis at an earlier hearing before magistrates.

Ms Baqri said he had five previous convictions for