A man who gave evidence at the murder trial of Olivia Pratt-Korbel has been attacked at his home (Picture: PA)

A witness in the Olivia Pratt-Korbel murder trial has been attacked at his home by a masked knifeman.

The masked assailant reportedly ‘kicked in the door’ of Nicholas McHale, a Merseyside man who previously testified in support of child-killer Thomas Cashman.

Mr McHale was called as a witness by Cashman’s defence team in his trial for the murder of nine-year-old Olivia. The 35-year-old shot the child dead in her home on Kingsheath Avenue, Dovecot, on August 22 last year.

He claimed Cashman was at the home of a man called Craig Byrne, who lived opposite Mr McHale, at the time of the shooting.

During the trial, he told the jury he stored cannabis for Cashman, and claimed to have seen and spoken to the killer in the front yard of Mr Byrne’s home at the time of the murder.

David McLachlan, KC, prosecuting, asked Mr McHale ‘why are you here?’, to which he replied: ‘Because I believe and know Thomas Cashman is innocent.’

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