The schoolfriends of Olivia Pratt-Korbel will paint their nails pink as the nine-year-old is laid to rest this morning.
Olivia's funeral is due to take place at St Margaret Mary's Catholic Church on Pilch Lane, Knotty Ash, from around 11am. Her family have asked mourners to "wear a splash of pink" in her memory. The service will be followed by a private burial and wake.
Olivia was shot dead in her home on Kingsheath Avenue, Dovecot, at around 10pm on Monday, August 22 by a gunman chasing 35-year-old Joseph Nee. Nee had barged inside in a desperate bid to escape after Olivia's mum, Cheryl Korbel, heard loud bangs and opened her front door to see what was going on.
READ MORE: Olivia Pratt-Korbel's classmates to watch her favourite film on day of funeral
Next door to the church is St Margaret Mary's Catholic Junior School where Olivia was a pupil. The school's 480 pupils have been offered counselling to cope with the loss of their popular classmate.
The children will not be asked to attend the service, however, and will remember Olivia in other ways, according to headteacher Rebecca Wilkinson. She said pupils would be allowed to wear pink nail varnish in memory of the time when Olivia tried to hide her hands from her headteacher to conceal her painted nails.
Miss Wilkinson, who said Olivia "oozed kindness", added prayers will be written in school and an art project of flowers put together in her memory. She said: "In the afternoon we are going to watch Olivia's favourite film, which was Matilda, so that's something for the children to look forward to."
The school also has plans for a permanent memorial to Olivia. Mrs Wilkinson said: "You would hope this would never happen again, not in any school. It's not something I would wish upon any headteacher. The loss of any child in a school is tragic, the loss of a child with so much personality makes it doubly hard."
In an emotional video shared via Merseyside Police, mum Cheryl spoke of her pain and urged those responsible to come forward. She said: "Everyone that she met, they all fell in love with her. She left a mark on everyone that she met and she may well have only been nine but she packed a lot into them nine years.
"She hurt your ears because she never, never, stopped talking and that's what I miss the most, because I can't hear her talk. I'm hoping that they come forward so this doesn't happen to anybody else.
"You know you have done wrong so you need to own up, like I've taught my kids. You do something wrong, you own up to it. If anyone is hiding these guns they need to speak up, because they need to be off these streets. No one at all should have to go through this.."
Her dad, John Francis Pratt, also shared a statement saying: "Words can’t express the pain we are going through after Olivia was so cruelly snatched away from us. Those responsible need to know what they have done."
Tory peer Lord Ashcroft, the founder of charity Crimestoppers, last night announced he had personally provided a £50,000 reward for new information leading to the conviction of her killers. On Monday police search teams began scouring the grounds around West Derby Golf Club following a tip-off that the murder weapons had been dumped there. The search remains ongoing.
Anyone with information is asked to contact Crimestoppers via its online form here or by calling 0800 555 111
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