A drug dealer who killed a nine-year-old girl was shielded from her family in the dock during his trial because they were “intimidating”, her mother has said.

Thomas Cashman, 34, was jailed for a minimum of 42 years for the murder of Olivia Pratt-Korbel, who was shot in Dovecot, Liverpool, after Cashman chased another man into her home.

Olivia’s mother, Cheryl Korbel, has been campaigning for a change in the law to compel defendants to attend their sentencing hearings after Cashman failed to appear in court as he was jailed for life.