The 10 men and two women of the jury have been sent to begin their deliberations in the trial of Thomas Cashman.
Closing arguments have been delivered and the trial judge completed her summary of the evidence at Manchester Crown Court this morning, where the 34-year-old is into the fourth week of his trial over the murder of Olivia Pratt-Korbel. Olivia, nine, died on August 22 last year when a gunman fired a bullet through the front door of her family home in Kingsheath Avenue, Dovecot, injuring her mum, Cheryl Korbel, in the wrist and striking her in the chest.
The gunman had been chasing then 35-year-old convicted drug dealer and burglar Joseph Nee, who barged into the Korbel house while fleeing for his life. Cashman, of Grenadier Drive, West Derby, denies any involvement in Olivia's murder or any of the shooting.
READ MORE: Thomas Cashman murder trial updates as case enters final stages
Trial judge Mrs Justice Yip sent the jury to begin their deliberations at 11.55am, and told them she would not take verdicts between 1pm and 2pm to allow for lunch breaks. She told the jury: "When you have reached your verdict, you will all come back into court to deliver them.
“It is important you try to reach verdicts which are unanimous, verdicts on which all of you agree. As you may know, the law permits me in certain circumstances to permit a verdict which is not agreed by you all.
“Should the time ever come where it is possible, I will give you a further direction in relation to that."
Yesterday (Tuesday) Professor John Cooper, KC, defending, concluded his closing arguments and told the jury "there are others that wanted Joseph Nee dead". He reminded the jury of an agreed fact, read to them earlier in the trial, which said at the time of the shooting Joseph Nee and his immediate family "had their enemies."
He told the 10 men and two women on the jury: "Please take away with you in your minds this admission. It is central to this defence.
“It is telling you, and it’s agreed by the prosecution, that on the night that that trigger or triggers were pulled on Joseph Nee he had enemies. Enemies, plural.
“You know therefore that on the night that the triggers were pulled there were multiple people who were his enemies. Not had an enemy, but had enemies."
Mr Cooper said the prosecution's "key witness", a woman who told the police Cashman "confessed" to the shooting later that night, was motivated by anger after he refused to leave his partner, Kayleeanne Sweeney, to be with her. Cashman also claims that she was further motivated by a £25,000 debt her boyfriend owed him for cannabis, and the chance to claim a financial reward for information about Olivia's murder.
Referring to the woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, Mr Cooper said: “A woman angry, a woman bitter, a woman feeling she had been used and thrown away."
On Monday, David McLachlan, KC, prosecuting, delivered his own closing speech in which he suggested the key witness could not have known certain details she told the police about the gunman's movements that night, including the fact he had allegedly used back gardens to escape, unless she had been telling the truth.
He told the jury: "How could [the witness] know he’d garden hopped? How could she know he wasn’t alibied at home?
“She couldn’t know. How could she know he wasn’t in the shops or the pub watching football. How could she have any idea the clothes she said she gave him would be recovered from his sister’s address?
“In short, she couldn’t know these things. Is she trying to stitch him up for the murder of a nine-year-old girl because she was angry, resentful or vindictive or because she wanted the financial reward?
“Or is it the case that she told you the truth?"
On Tuesday afternoon Justice Yip began summarising the evidence for the jury. She told the jurors: "We have now reached the final stage before you retire to consider your verdicts. You probably didn’t anticipate being involved in something as high profile as this.
“There is no getting away from the fact you have been given a heavy responsibility. Everyone here recognises you have exercised your roles as jurors diligently throughout the trial and I am sure you will continue to do so.
“This is a case that engenders emotions. You know you need to be analytical, to focus on the evidence. I have observed you doing that throughout the trial.”
As well as denying Olivia's murder, Cashman denies the attempted murder of Nee, as well as wounding Cheryl Korbel with intent to inflict grievous bodily harm. He also pleaded not guilty to two counts of possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life, namely a 9mm calibre self-loading pistol and a 0.3 calibre revolver.
The trial continues.
READ NEXT:
Thomas Cashman's defence claim prosecution case suffers from 'Cinderella syndrome'
Thomas Cashman thinks jury were 'all born yesterday', prosecutor claims
Witness in Olivia Pratt-Korbel murder trial told 'you're a liar'
Thomas Cashman tells jury if you want to sell drugs you 'can't let people take the p***'
