Olivia Pratt-Korbel: Community adamant schoolgirl’s death ‘will not be in vain’ four weeks after shooting

‘It goes without saying the family will never get over this. But I think in a way the community won’t either’

“Let her death not be in vain” is the feeling hanging over a Liverpool community, four weeks after a schoolgirl was shot dead in her own home.

In his homily during Olivia Pratt-Korbel’s funeral on Thursday, the archbishop of Liverpool called on those present to comfort each other with faith in the belief the nine-year-old’s untimely and ill-fated death would “lead to a community without violence”.

The schoolgirl was killed when a masked gunman opened fire as he chased a convicted burglar through the door of the home she shared with her mother and two older siblings in Dovecot.

Mourners as the coffin of nine-year-old Olivia Pratt-Korbel is taken to her funeral in Liverpool (Craig Brough/Reuters)

Her death on 22 August followed months of growing tensions in the area and is thought to have been the latest incident in a series of tit-for-tat gang attacks.

Neither man was known to Olivia’s family and the gunman is still on the run four weeks later despite police making nine arrests.

Merseyside Police are said to face a “wall of silence” when investigating killings because of a “no-grass culture” allegedly rooted in Liverpool’s criminal fraternity.

But investigators have reportedly already been handed a name by the community, who are desperate to get justice for the young girl and her family.

Olivia was one of three people shot dead in the space of a week in Liverpool (Family handout/PA)

“There is no wall of silence,” said Barbara Murray, a councillor in the ward where Olivia lived on Kingsheath Avenue.

“Everybody knows who did it. I think part of the difficulty is that when people come forward, they need to be better protected.

“At some point, police are going to need some people to be witnesses and to provide evidence which is a step further, isn’t it?

“I don’t think anybody is scared of being a grass – I think everybody wants justice for this child.”

The schoolgirl was shot in her Liverpool home on 22 August (Family handout/PA)

Ms Murray and her two fellow Yew Tree ward councillors are planning to hold a community reassurance meeting next weekend, which she hopes will be their first real chance “to get the temperature of things”.

“I would say for about 48 hours after it happened there was some anger around there,” she told The Independent.

“I think there’s a sense of ‘Let’s not let her have died in vain’. I think this is mostly coming from mothers.”

The councillor is still confident police will catch Olivia’s killer and that the schoolgirl’s family and community will one day get justice.

But she said they would never forget the fact the youngster was killed in her own home.

“I think it goes without saying the family will never get over this,” she said. “But I think in a way the community won’t either.”

Olivia’s mother, Cheryl Korbel (second left), was injured as she tried to shut the door on the attacker (Reuters)

Olivia was one of three people shot dead in the space of a week in Liverpool amid a rise in gun and knife crimes.

Council worker Ashley Dale, 28, was shot in her back garden in another part of the city in what police believe may have been a case of mistaken identity, while 22-year-old mechanic Sam Rimmer died after two people opened fire as he stood in the street with friends.

Police are said to be probing suspected links between the deaths of Olivia and Ashley, who died less than two miles apart, according to the Sunday Mirror.

Reverend Peter Smyth, who opened the doors of the Church of the Holy Spirit in Dovecot to the community immediately after Olivia’s death, said he believed the people of Liverpool could help get her killer off the streets.

“The people of Liverpool tend to do the best they can for each other,” he said.

Convicted burglar Joseph Nee is understood to have been the intended target of the gunman (Cheshire Police/PA)

“We just need to get this perpetrator off the streets and for justice to be done and really I think the people can help.

“There are people in the community who perhaps know something so if they can just come forward and tell the police.”

Rev Smyth said the community was growing tired of the spate of crime in the area.

“That’s very much the feeling – especially in light of poor Olivia’s shooting,” he said.

“Thankfully we don’t have that many shootings in Liverpool but these three were particularly tragic because they were young innocent people going about their business.”

He said the general feeling locally was that police were doing a good job – but that residents “just want the person who did this to be brought to justice now”.

The Independent has contacted Merseyside Police for comment.