The killer of Olivia Pratt-Korbel, 9, will not have his prison sentence increased despite appeal to extend his jail term.
EsB reported that the killer could have his jail term extended amidst numerous appeals.
Thomas Cashman, 34, was jailed for life with a minimum term of 42 years last month after he was found guilty of shooting the schoolgirl in her Liverpool home.
At the time, he was chasing drug dealer Joseph Nee, who tried to seek cover into her home, on August 22 last year.
Cashman opened fire, hitting Olivia’s mum Cheryl Korbel in the wrist as she tried to keep the door shut on Nee, with the same bullet killing the nine-year-old girl.
Solicitor general Michael Tomlinson KC admitted it was ‘little surprise’ that he has received several requests to reconsider the sentence, seeing that it ‘shocked and sickened the nation’.
‘My duty as a law officer in considering whether sentences may be unduly lenient is to act independently of government, even when it is not easy or popular,’ he said.
‘Having received detailed legal advice and considered the issues raised carefully, I have concluded Cashman’s case cannot properly be referred to the Court of Appeal.
‘Such a referral can only be made if the rigorous legal test is met, irrespective of the seriousness of the crime or the emotions the offending may evoke.
‘The threshold for referral is a high one, and that was not met in this case.
‘The test is only met if the sentencing judge made a gross error or imposed a sentence outside the range reasonably available in the circumstances of the offending.
Cashman himself has launched his own appeal against the sentence, with lawyers arguing the penalty is too harsh.
