Olivia Pratt-Korbel: PC scooped up girl and ran, inquest told

A police officer "scooped" up Olivia Pratt-Korbel and ran with her to try and save her life after she was shot at her home, an inquest has heard.

Olivia was fatally shot as her mother tried to stop a gunman entering her Liverpool home on 22 August.

Liverpool senior coroner Andre Rebello told Gerard Majella Courthouse that responding officers rushed to try to save the nine-year-old's life.

He said a PC pressed his hand on her wound as he carried her to hospital.

Mr Rebello, who also dealt with the death of 11-year-old Rhys Jones after he was shot in the city in 2007, spoke of his shock as he opened the inquest into Olivia's death.

He said it was "quite shocking that society has not changed for the better".

"It is shocking that a nine-year-old little girl, with a full life in front of her, is shot anywhere, but to be shot in her own home, in the safety of her home, is heinous and unforgiving," he said.

Olivia was fatally shot and her mother was injured after a gunman chased a man into her home in Dovecot at about 22:00 BST.

Neither of the men had any links to her family.

Mr Rebello said armed response officers found Olivia with a gunshot wound to her chest.

"Police officers scooped and ran with Olivia to Alder Hey Children's Hospital in the back of a police car," he said.

He said she arrived at the hospital's main entrance at approximately 22:15 "in the arms of a police officer".

"The officer had covered the wound to her chest with his hand and she was noted to have a weak heart, which had stopped prior to her arrival in hospital," he said.

He said medical teams met Olivia as she arrived and a major trauma call was put out.

The nine-year-old then received cardiac massage and a rapid blood transfusion, but at 23:15, she had no cardiac output, the coroner said.

Ten minutes later, "after extensive efforts by all involved, the decision was made to stop resuscitation and Olivia was confirmed as having died," he added.

A post-mortem examination found the cause of her death was a gunshot wound to the chest.

The inquest heard Olivia was born in Liverpool to mother Cheryl Korbel, a support worker, and father John Francis Pratt, a mechanic.

The coroner said Olivia's death would "not just affect her immediate family and friends, but also school communities, church communities, not just in the Knotty Ash and Dovecot areas of Liverpool, but the whole city, Merseyside, and I know right across this country people are shocked by Olivia's death".

"I understand Merseyside Police would be very grateful for anyone with any information who could bring some knowledge to the circumstances in which Olivia came by her death, no matter how insignificant that information may be," he added.

Adjourning the inquest to 4 January, he released Olivia's body to her family for burial.

Mr Rebello also opened the inquests into the deaths of 28-year-old council worker Ashley Dale and Sam Rimmer, a 22-year-old mechanic, at the courthouse.

Mr Rimmer was shot in Dingle on 16 August, while Ms Dale was found with gunshot wounds in the back garden of her Old Swan home in the early hours of 21 August.

He told Ms Dale's inquest that she was not believed to have been the intended target of the shooting and the door of her home "had been forced", with her being found lying unresponsive by officers close to her mobile phone and several bullet casings in her back garden.

He said until someone was "apprehended" and the process of law was applied to "this most heinous tragedy", her family would "struggle with a very difficult bereavement journey".

Mr Rimmer's inquest was told he and his "associates" had been chased by four males on electric bikes, who had discharged firearms "numerous times".

The 22-year-old died in hospital a short time later.

Mr Rebello said it "goes without saying" that Mr Rimmer "appears to have been murdered, and clearly somebody out there has information... and I would encourage anyone with any knowledge to provide it".

He added that it was "difficult enough to deal with bereavement from natural causes, but when the death is from such a heinous, unnecessary act, a family and bereaved relatives clearly need some progress... to find at least some degree of closure".

A 36-year-old man from Huyton and a 33-year-old from Dovecot were arrested on suspicion of murder and attempted murder in connection with Olivia's death a few days after she was shot and have been released on bail.

A 25-year-old man from Liverpool arrested on suspicion of Ms Dale's murder has been conditionally bailed pending further inquiries.

Four men arrested on suspicion of Mr Rimmer's murder have also been bailed.

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