Olivia Pratt-Korbel shooting: $1.1M cocaine heist in 2020 may have led to 9-yr-old's killing
DOVECOT, LIVERPOOL: Nine-year-old Olivia Pratt-Korbel was shot dead at her home on August 22 when a masked attacker, chasing the 35-year-old convicted burglar Joseph Nee, opened fire into the home killing the girl and injuring the mother Cheryl in the hand. Now, investigation suggests that $1.1M cocaine heist could be the reason behind the shooting.
According to the Daily Mail, sources with an idea of Liverpool underworld claimed it may be related to drugs heist from May 2020 when a gang stole another gang's 30 kg of cocaine from stash house near Olivia's home. As per the report, the other gang is tracking those individuals who were involved in the heist. And Joseph, the man who is believed to be the target of the gun attack that led to Olivia's death, got caught up in the gang's revenge plot.
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The Sun states that two years ago a group of four men, including Richard Caswell, Manchester-based brothers Jason and Craig Cox, and Ben Monks, armed with an ax and a baton, broke into a stash house in Croxdale Road West, which was near Olivia's home, and beat up a father-son duo who were looking after the drugs for the other gang. They stole the drugs and sold some parts to Leon Atkinson, a criminal associate of cop killer Dale Cregan. As per the outlet, a source familiar with the Liverpool underworld informed on the night of August 24 that Joseph "may have been targeted as part of a war between two drug gangs after one robbed the other of $1.1M worth of cocaine."
The Sun quoted the source as saying, "The guys that lost the £1M [$1.1M] of drugs are the top of the criminal tree in Liverpool. No one could believe anyone would try and rip them off. The cops managed to crack the case by getting into their encrypted phones and some were jailed in May. But the Liverpool gang are still furious about it and have been going after anyone they think was involved. The word is that Nee gathered some information for them." The source added, "Lots of trouble in Liverpool over the last couple of years has been connected to this."
What do we know so far?
As reported earlier, an unidentified gunman shot Olivia in a wicked "tit for tat" gang war after barging into her house while chasing Joseph who saw a "chink of light" inside. When the gunman opened fire, Olivia was standing behind her mother Cheryl. Cheryl was shot in the wrist, and the bullet passed through her and into Olivia's chest. On August 23, Joseph was arrested in hospital for violating his license conditions, and Merseyside police said he would be returned to prison.
Olivia's uncle Peter Korbel shared a photo of her in an emotional tribute. He wrote, ''Our family will remember this picture of my beautiful niece with happiness and pride...this tiny cheeky little girl with the Korbel attitude thrown in and then some xx but to the scum that's done this, this picture is going to haunt you for the rest of your days''.