Tag: Manchester Crown Court

Staff members recognized the clumsy gunman’s unusual chin during an armed robbery at his neighborhood Morrisons, and they were able to stop him.

Wesley Dickson, 39, tried to pull off a failed stick-up with a sawn-off shotgun and a hoodie covering his face, but his cliffhanging jawline was simply too prominent to conceal.

The employees at the Morrisons supermarket in Heywood, Greater Manchester, immediately recognized Dickinson as a regular client once they noticed his unusual chin.

Dickson ran away after a supervisor pressed the panic alarm, but police later found him hiding in his loft at the home he shares with his mother just 350 yards away from the store.

Officers also seized a sawn off Webley bolt action shotgun used in the bungled raid which was hidden under some equipment in the family shed.

Dickson was jailed for six years after he admitted attempted robbery and possession of a firearm at Manchester Crown Court.

The raid occurred at around 5.30pm on July 12 last year, whilst retail supervisor Barry Chambers was dealing with customers alongside his assistant Natalie McKenzie.

Kate Gaskell, prosecuting, said: ‘He noticed the defendant enter the shop wearing a hooded jumper done up tight to partially reveal his identity. 

However, Mr Chambers still recognised the defendant as he was a regular visitor to the shop. The defendant made his way towards the counter whilst Mr Chambers was occupied in retrieving cigarettes from behind the counter.

‘When he turned around he saw the defendant standing with a shotgun in his left hand and a bin bag in his right hand. He began gesticulating aggressively and threatening the customers in the store.

‘He then targeted Mr Chambers and demanded he hand over a key to the safe.’

‘Mr Chambers replied saying he had no access to the till. At this point the defendant turned round and pointed the shotgun at the customers and told them to stand still. He then pressed the shotgun to Mr Chambers head, leaned over the counter and told him again to get his keys.

‘Mr Chambers had pressed the panic button at this point and the defendant, realising that he couldn’t get into the safe, fled the shop empty handed.’

They added: ‘Officers attended the defendant’s mother’s property in Heywood the next day. Although he was not present, his mother, who he lives with, allowed the police to enter.

‘After a search of the house they found the shotgun buried under a pile of gardening equipment in a metal shed at the bottom of the garden.’

Officers returned to the property on July 16 and found Dickinson hiding in the loft. He claimed to have had plans to hand himself in, but gave no comment during the interview.

In a statement to police Mr Chambers said: ‘I was shocked and concerned for the safety of everyone in the store. I also feared for my own life. I had to keep calm and comfort my colleague Natalie who was crying.’

‘I suffered a heart attack last year and subsequently had an operation on my heart. This incident has exacerbated my pre-existing issues and made me fear for my health again. I was unable to sleep a week after the incident.’

‘When I finally returned to work I found myself constantly checking the door out of fear. Now thankfully an automatic lock has since been fitted on the door, which allows me to control who has access to the shop during the evening.’

Dickson, who has one previous conviction for a violent offence back in 2012 claimed to have no recollection of his motivation for the raid.

His counsel David Bruce said: ‘He is a recovering heroin addict who began his addiction in his teens- this caused him to self harm and experience withdrawal.’

But during sentencing, Judge Philip Barnes told Dickson: ‘Your need for money and drugs clearly motivated your offending.

‘It takes no genius to see that you robbed the shop for money and these drugs have taken a hold over your mind.’

‘You carried a sawn-off shotgun, which is made for one purpose. They are easier to carry and conceal. It was only for the actions of the workers that the robbery was only an attempted one. But this was an extremely distressing event for them.’

Life in prison was handed down to the shooter who killed nine-year-old Olivia Pratt-Korbel as she cried out to her mother in her own home.

During a three-week trial that concentrated on the crucial particulars of a crime that shocked the country, Thomas Cashman, 34, was found guilty of the young girl’s murder last week.

Mrs. Justice Yip, the trial judge, ruled that a whole-life order was not necessary in this case but set the minimum sentence he must serve at 42 years.

Ahead of today’s sentencing at Manchester Crown Court, Olivia’s mum Cheryl Korbel held the same pink teddy bear, made out of her daughter’s pyjamas, which she waved in delight after the verdict on March 30.

Mrs Justice Yip’s sentencing was delayed for several minutes as Cashman refused to appear in the dock for it and the family’s impact statements, a decision the judge described as ‘deeply disrespectful’.

The defendant’s lawyer explained his client believed the matter had become a ‘circus’ after he said he heard the Crown Prosecution Service singing the Queen song We Are The Champions following his conviction.

In her statement, Ms Korbel, 46, said Olivia was planning to donate 12 inches of her hair to the Princess Trust, which creates wigs for sick children.

Her haircut had been booked for August 27 – five days after her murder.

The court also heard impact statements from Olivia’s big sister Chloe Kerbel and her father John Pratt.

During the trial, jurors had been told how Cashman had been ‘scoping out’ his intended target, drug dealer Joseph Nee, as he watched a football match with his friend on August 22 last year.

Cashman, who admitted operating as a ‘high-level’ cannabis dealer in the area, then ‘ruthlessly pursued’ Nee until he reached the front door of the Korbel family home in Knotty Ash, Liverpool.

Ms Korbel had opened the door to check what the noise was – but Nee, who had already been shot in the midriff, took the opportunity to try and barge in.

Olivia, who had been woken up by the commotion outside, was standing on the stairway screaming: ‘I’m scared mummy, I’m scared.’

The fatal shot was fired through the front door, hitting Ms Korbel in the wrist as she tried to close it and ultimately striking Olivia in the chest.

The court heard Cashman fled the scene on foot, jumping over garden fences, and was later picked up and driven away by Paul Russell, 41.

Meanwhile, Olivia was taken to Alder Hey Children’s Hospital and rushed straight to the resuscitation room, but was declared dead at 11.15pm.

Cashman told the jury he had been at a friend’s house, counting out £10,000 in cash and smoking a spliff, on the night of the killing.

While giving evidence, the father-of-two insisted: ‘I’m not a killer, I’m a dad.’

Thomas Cashman lies to police after he’s shot nine-year-old Olivia Pratt-Korbel

But a woman who was having a fling with him told the court he had come to her house after the shooting, changing his clothes and telling her he had ‘done Joey’.

The woman in question was praised for her ‘bravery’ by police, who said her testimony was vital to ensuring Cashman’s conviction.

Detective Superintendent Mark Baker, of Merseyside Police, said: ‘We hoped and prayed, through our witness appeal, that a witness of this nature would come forward.

‘She showed incredible bravery. Probably in my 30-year service, I’ve never seen such bravery.’

She reportedly told officers after coming forward: ‘There is no such thing as a grass when it involves a nine-year-old.’

Who is ‘Britain’s most hated man’ Thomas Cashman?

Little is known for certain about Cashman’s past beyond what was said in court, where he admitted to being a ‘high-level’ cannabis dealer but claimed he was ‘not a killer’.

A father-of-two, he grew up in a terraced council house 15 minutes from Olivia’s home, left school around 13 or 14 and spent time working in fairgrounds in Wales before moving back to Liverpool.

At the time of his arrest, he told jurors, he had been making between £3,000 and £5,000 per week selling cannabis around Merseyside, where he lived in a £450,000 home.

Despite the huge sums involved, he insisted he strictly sold to people he knew, didn’t touch Class A substances and was ‘not a bad drug dealer’.

But he hinted at his violent streak when probed about an anecdote in which he recalled how he dealt with a £25,000 debt for five kilos of cannabis owed to him by an associate.

Without batting an eyelid, he told jurors: ‘I said if you don’t sort it I’ll take your graft and I’ll take your car.’

David McLachlan, KC, prosecuting, asked: ‘What if [he] refused to hand them over?’

Cashman replied: ‘If he didn’t give it me, well, he would have ended up getting a punch or something.’

Asked whether this was ‘the world in which you live and work’, he added: ‘If I let people do that all the time I wouldn’t be able to sell cannabis.

‘I would have took the graft; I would have took the car. He’s got a nice car. To pay the bill off…I can’t let people take the p***.’

But numerous reports have linked him to organised crime groups, the sale of cocaine and three other deaths which remain unsolved.

One man claiming to be a former customer told the Liverpool Echo Cashman was ‘feared’ as a ‘known hitman in the area’, running with a gang who ‘ran the streets’ of Dovecot.

The 34-year-old is also reportedly suspected of being connected to the fatal Liverpool shootings of 46-year-old dad-of-two Nick Ayers in 2010, 31-year-old Karl Bradley in 2013, and 30-year-old Blake Brown in 2016.

Mr Ayers was shot seven times outside his mother-in-law’s house in a suspected gangland execution, and was found dying on the ground by one of his daughters.

Mr Bradley, who was the brother of infamous gang boss Kirk ‘The Turk’ Bradley, was shot four times and left for dead in a snow-covered garden.

Mr Brown, was shot three times in the head, arm and buttocks by two men in a ‘sophisticated’ attack outside a bail hostel weeks after being freed from jail.

As well as Olivia’s murder, Cashman was also found guilty of the attempted murder of Nee, wounding with intent to do grievous bodily harm to Ms Korbel, and two counts of possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life.

He now reportedly has a £250,000 bounty on his head to stop him from ‘grassing’.

An insider told The Sun: ‘He knows everything about everyone. The figure is £250,000 to kill him.

‘His knowledge and testimony could cause a world of pain for some very big criminals who do not want their activities being looked at.’

Mr Russell, who admitted assisting an offender by driving Cashman away from an scene and passing his clothes to another person, is expected to be sentenced separately at a later date.