The man accused of murdering Olivia Pratt-Korbel has informed his trial he was a “high-level cannabis dealer”.
Thomas Cashman is charged with murdering the nine-year-old and injuring her mom after chasing a convicted drug vendor into their dwelling in Liverpool final August.
He informed Manchester Crown Court he was making between £3,000 and £5,000 per week promoting about 5 to 10 kilos of marijuana.
“I would buy cars, bikes, save some, go on holidays and just spend it on stuff that I enjoyed basically,” Cashman stated.
The 34-year-old – who has two youngsters together with his “childhood sweetheart” – stated he left faculty in his early teenagers and by about 16 was working at a good in Wales and smoking hashish every day.
Cashman testified that he started promoting it on a “small scale” across the time he was 18 and “basically smoking my profit”.
However by 2021, when Cashman and his household moved to a house in Grenadier Drive in Liverpool, he stated he was promoting at a “high level”.
“I only ever sold it in my area where I’ve been brought up, so everyone I sold it to was everyone I knew,” Cashman informed the court docket.
He replied “yes” when requested by defence barrister John Cooper KC if he was a “high-level cannabis dealer”.
Cashman stated his “catchment area” was round Finch Lane within the Dovecot space of Liverpool and the medicine had been usually dropped at his sister’s dwelling in Mab Lane.
From there, they’d be taken to whoever needed to purchase the drug – or to a buddy’s property which he described as a “stash house”.
But Cashman stated there have been tensions as his sister’s boyfriend was a police officer.
“He didn’t like it and he got on my sister over it and they were having arguments between each other about me always being there,” he informed the court docket.
The defendant testified that he knew Joseph Nee – the person he’s accused of making an attempt to kill – however that he by no means had any drawback with him or his brothers.
He claimed he had been on the Nee household dwelling to take a look at a brand new Audi owned by one of many brothers on the day earlier than the taking pictures.
Cashman denied he was “scoping things out” throughout the go to, in addition to the suggestion he made a “confession” to a key prosecution witness – a lady he was having a “fling” with.
The lady, who can’t be named, claims she overheard him say he had “done Joey” when he allegedly got here to her dwelling after the taking pictures and adjusted his garments.
Cashman informed jurors he had offered medicine to the girl’s boyfriend, who owed him £25,000, and that she had threatened to inform his companion about their relationship as a result of he would not go to Spain to begin a brand new life together with her.
The defendant denies murdering Olivia, in addition to the tried homicide of Mr Nee, wounding with intent to trigger grievous bodily hurt to Olivia’s mom Cheryl Korbel, and two fees of possessing a firearm with intent to hazard life.
The trial continues.
Source: information.sky.com”