The three fatal shootings in a week which rocked Liverpool: How Ashley Dale was gunned down a day before nine-year-old Olivia Pratt Korbell’s murder
Published: 22:48, 20 November 2023 | Updated: 23:49, 20 November 2023
Ashley Dale’s murderers[2] were today convicted of murdering the council worker in a horrific shooting that was one of three which rocked Liverpool in the space of a week last year.
Ashley, 28, was killed in August last year when gunman James Witham, 41, forced open the door of her flat in Old Swan, Liverpool, firing 10 bullets in her dining room. One hit Ashley in the abdomen as she stood by the back door and five bullets went into the wall of an upstairs bedroom.
Witham and three other men were found guilty of her murder by a jury at Liverpool Crown Court today and face life sentences for the killing.
The environmental health officer was gunned down just one day before nine-year-old Olivia Pratt-Korbel[3] was shot dead at her home in Dovecot, Liverpool by ‘coward’ gunman Thomas Cashman.
Cashman, who was jailed for life for shooting Olivia, shot the little girl as he was chasing convicted drug dealer Joseph Nee, who tried to run into Olivia’s home in a bid to escape. Cashman fired indiscriminately into the hallway, hitting the schoolgirl and injuring her mother.
Sam Rimmer, 22, was also killed in Dingle, Liverpool that same week when shots were fired at his group of friends by people on electric bikes[4].
Ten people have been arrested in relation to Sam’s murder and are all currently out on bail.
Ashley Dale, 28, (pictured) was killed in August last year when gunman James Witham, 41, forced open the door of her flat in Old Swan, Liverpool, firing 10 bullets in her dining room.
One hit Ashley in the abdomen as she stood by the back door and five bullets went into the wall of an upstairs bedroom
Olivia Pratt-Korbel, 9, (pictured) was shot dead at her home in Dovecot, Liverpool by ‘coward’ gunman Thomas Cashman in August last year. Cashman, who was jailed for life for shooting Olivia, shot the little girl as he was chasing convicted drug dealer Joseph Nee, who tried to run into Olivia’s home in a bid to escape.
Cashman fired indiscriminately into the hallway, hitting the schoolgirl and injuring her mother
Sam Rimmer, 22, (pictured) was also killed in Dingle, Liverpool that same week when shots were fired at his group of friends by people on electric bikes .
Ten people have been arrested in relation to Sam’s murder and are all currently out on bail
Ashley was killed in the early hours of August 21 last year when she was ‘mercilessly’ chased through her home and blasted with a submachine gun after a feud involving her boyfriend.
Witham opened fire into Ashley’s flat and hit the council worker in the abdomen as she stood by the back door. Five bullets went into the wall of an upstairs bedroom.
The gunman admitted her manslaughter but a jury at Liverpool Crown Court today also found him guilty of her murder, along with fellow ‘foot soldier’ Joseph Peers.
The prosecution alleged that Peers, 29, drove a Hyundai to the scene and earlier helped Witham to stab tyres on Ashley’s car in an attempt to lure out the occupants of the house.
Niall Barry, 26, and Sean Zeisz, 28, were also convicted of murder after the jury heard that they organised and encouraged the killing, which came after a feud between Ashley’s boyfriend Lee Harrison, 26, and Barry was re-ignited when Zeisz was assaulted at the Glastonbury Festival[5] last year.
A trial at Liverpool Crown Court heard Ashley’s own voice describing the falling out between her partner and Barry, as voicenotes which she recorded and sent to friends in the two months before her murder were played to the jury.
The phone, recovered an arm’s length from where Ashley was found in her back garden, had been used in her final moments to try to call Harrison, who was out with friends while she spent the night at home, watching television with her dachshund.
The trial heard that Barry, who ran a County Lines drugs ring, had fallen out with Harrison three years earlier over the alleged theft of drugs.
James Witham and Niall Barry are among four men who were today found guilty of murdering council worker Ashley Dale
Sean Zeisz and Joseph Peers were also found guilty of murdering Ms Dale and conspiracy to murder her partner, Lee Harrison
Ashley, 28, was killed last year when gunman James Witham, 41, forced open the door of her flat in Liverpool
But at the Glastonbury Festival in 2022, his close associate and fellow drug dealer Zeisz was beaten up by a group including Harrison’s friend, Jordan Thompson, who the court heard was a member of a rival organised crime[6] group, the Hillsiders.
To compound Zeisz’s ‘loss of face’, after he wandered off, his then girlfriend Olivia McDowell went to stay with Ashley and Harrison at the festival, before later splitting with him and developing a relationship with Thompson, 20.
The feud escalated in the weeks that followed and a hit was planned with Harrison the intended target.
There were calls of ‘yes’ from Ashley’s family, including mother Julie Dale and her partner Rob Jones, who shared hugs of relief in the public gallery as the guilty verdicts were returned.
But Zeisz’s father shouted obscenities.
The four men were also convicted of conspiracy to murder Harrison and of conspiracy to possess a prohibited weapon and ammunition with intent to endanger life.
A fifth defendant, Ian Fitzgibbon, 28, was cleared of the same charges.
And a sixth man, Kallum Radford, 25, was also found not guilty of assisting an offender for arranging to hide the Hyundai i30 car used by Peers and Witham.
Trial judge Mr Justice Goose, who will sentence the men, adjourned the case until Wednesday for sentencing.
Ashley’s case is believed to be the first in British legal history to use the recorded testimony of the victim from beyond the grave to secure convictions.
This photo of Ms Dale with her dachshund Darla was taken less than an hour before her death
Ashley was murdered just one day before little Olivia Pratt-Korbel (pictured) was killed by Thomas Cashman in her family’s home on August 22 last year in a ‘senseless murder’ that had ‘shocked and sickened the nation’
Olivia’s mother, Cheryl Korbel, (pictured) was also shot when Cashman barged into the family home
Ashley was murdered just one day before little Olivia was killed by Cashman in her family’s home on August 22 last year in a ‘senseless murder’ that had ‘shocked and sickened the nation’.
Cashman was planning on murdering rival criminal Nee, who escaped through the nine-year-old’s home. But the gunmen fired indiscriminately into the hallway, hitting the school girl and injuring her mother.
Jurors found him guilty of Olivia’s murder[7], the attempted murder of Nee, the wounding with intent of Cheryl Korbel, and two counts of possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life.
Cashman, now 35, was jailed for life at Manchester Crown Court in April this year.
He was given a mandatory life sentence – and told by trial judge Mrs Justice Yip that he will not be eligible for release until he is in his 70s.
His written application for permission to challenge his 42-year minimum jail term was rejected by an appeal judge, without a hearing, earlier this year.
A barrister representing him renewed that appeal bid at a Court of Appeal hearing in London last Wednesday.
John Cooper KC told appeal judges Dame Victoria Sharp, Mrs Justice McGowan and Mr Justice Chamberlain that ‘aggravating features’ were too ‘heavily relied’ on when Mrs Justice Yip passed sentence.
But the three judges ruled against Cashman and refused to give him permission to challenge that minimum term after concluding that he did not have an arguable case.
Thomas Cashman, now 35, was given a mandatory life sentence after being found guilty of murdering nine-year-old Olivia at her home in Dovecot, Liverpool, in August 2022
An artist’s sketch of Cashman in the dock at Manchester Crown Court on March 30
Olivia Pratt-Korbel, nine, (pictured) was shot and killed in her own home by Thomas Cashman on August 22 last year
Cashman is now planning an appeal against his conviction[8], a lawyer representing Cashman, and a court official, has said.
The court official said an application has been lodged but has not yet been considered by an appeal judge – and no appeal hearing date has been fixed.
Olivia’s mother previously branded Cashman ‘a coward’ [9]after he refused to sit in the dock for his life sentence to be passed.
But Prime Minister Rishi Sunak earlier this year announced new legislation forcing killers to attend court for sentencing that has been done ‘in [Olivia’s] name’.
The new sentencing bill [10]will force judges to hand down whole-life orders for the most gruesome killings. Rapists and other sexual offenders would also have to serve their entire sentence behind bars, instead of half on licence.
Other measures include giving police the power to enter a property without a warrant to seize stolen goods, such as phones, when they have reasonable proof that a specific stolen item is inside – such as data from a GPS tracker.
Judges would also be able to force convicted criminals into court for sentencing. A new Criminal Justice Bill would allow the use of ‘reasonable force’ to get them into the dock, with the option of adding two years to their sentence if they refuse.
Yet controversially, criminals handed a sentence of less than 12 months are set to receive a suspended sentence and carry out unpaid community work instead as part of efforts to tackle the prison overcrowding crisis.
This will be expected to cover most of the 37,000 offenders jailed each year for a year or less and include burglars, shoplifters, drug dealers and drink drivers but exclude criminals convicted of any sex, violent or terror offences.
Ms Korbel, who met with Mr Sunak in August to hear the news, has hailed the government’s pledge to introduce new laws requiring offenders to appear in court to be sentenced[11].
Mr Sunak hugged Olivia’s mother Cheryl Korbel on August 30 this year as he told her the news that the law would be changed to compel killers like Thomas Cashman to appear in court in future
Ms Korbel said she hoped that Olivia would be ‘proud [12]of what we’ve done’.
She told ITV: ‘Because at the end of the day, it’s in her name, it’s why we’ve done this.
And not only in her name, it’s for every other family out there that has gone through it.
‘We just hope it gets changed so no-one else has to go through it.’
Sam Rimmer [13]was also killed in Liverpool last year after being fatally injured in a shooting in Dingle last year.
People riding on two electric bikes drove into a cul-de-sac and fired a number of shots towards Sam and his group of friends at about 11.40pm on August 16.
The 22-year-old was injured and pronounced dead a short while later at hospital.
In August this year, to mark the on year anniversary of his killing, Merseyside Police relaunched an appeal for information relating to the shooting.
‘One year has passed since the shocking murder of Sam who would have turned 23 last January,’ Senior Investigating Officer, Detective Chief Inspector Steve McGrath, said in August.
‘Although we have made 10 arrests across Liverpool since the murder our enquiries remain ongoing.
Sam Rimmer was also killed in Liverpool last year after being fatally injured in a shooting in Dingle last year.
Pictured are police investigating the scene of his murder on August 16, 2022
‘We believe there are people living in Dingle, Toxteth and the surrounding area who hold vital information that will help us find anyone responsible for Sam’s death.’
The detective added that Sam’s death has ‘had a devastating impact on his family’ and said his loved ones hope that anyone with information about his murder will come forward.
‘We will review any new information you share with us so please contact us immediately if you have anything that could help us bring justice for Sam,’ he added.
‘Please help us give Sam’s family the answers they deserve after such a heart-breaking year without him by reporting any information about that night, no matter how small, to police.’
References
- ^ Natasha Anderson (www.dailymail.co.uk)
- ^ Ashley Dale’s murderers (www.dailymail.co.uk)
- ^ Olivia Pratt-Korbel (www.dailymail.co.uk)
- ^ electric bikes (www.dailymail.co.uk)
- ^ Glastonbury Festival (www.dailymail.co.uk)
- ^ crime (www.dailymail.co.uk)
- ^ guilty of Olivia’s murder (www.dailymail.co.uk)
- ^ appeal against his conviction (www.dailymail.co.uk)
- ^ branded Cashman ‘a coward’ (www.dailymail.co.uk)
- ^ new sentencing bill (www.dailymail.co.uk)
- ^ requiring offenders to appear in court to be sentenced (www.dailymail.co.uk)
- ^ Olivia would be ‘proud (www.dailymail.co.uk)
- ^ Sam Rimmer (www.dailymail.co.uk)