Jonathan Humphries
Liverpool Echo
The pressure on Jonathan to deliver answers, unpick the who, what, where and why of the story and secure exclusive, agenda setting scoops pushed him to the limits of his skill and experience. But amid the relentless demand, Jonathan rose to the challenge, unveiling the dark story of Cashman's journey from local drug dealer to perhaps Liverpool's most notorious murderer of his generation. Based on extensive digging involving high level police and community contacts, Jonathan was able to exclusively reveal how Cashman had been arrested, although not charged, for a previous murder and detailed via first hand testimony how he had lied about the extent of his drug-dealing activities on the streets of Dovecot. Jonathan was also able to secure an exclusive, feature length podcast style interview with the lead detectives in the case, securing exclusive details on how Cashman attempted to intimidate his community while on police bail. On the anniversary of Olivia's murder, Jonathan was able to produce a stunning report on a community left with deep scars, and lasting, justifiable fear. Jonathan's reports on the case were viewed millions of times, and he featured on both national TV and radio as a contributor putting the complex picture of gang and gun crime in Merseyside into context. The death of Olivia Pratt-Korbel was not the only devastating tragedy resulting from gun crime last year. On Christmas Eve, the shooting of Elle Edwards outside a busy pub stunned Merseyside in a year where many believed it could not get any worse. But Jonathan's year long reporting on an escalating problem in the underworld of Wirral meant he was ahead of the curve when it came to explaining to the ECHO's readership what had happened Jonathan's exposes on a terrifying conflict between two warring gangs, separated by the M53 motorway, revealed with extraordinary insight how a simmering conflict exploded into tragedy. It is absolutely vital that while the regional media supports the police in such investigations, it also holds them to account where necessary. Jonathan has spent the time between the mega-stories flowing from the murders of last year digging into the culture war behind the scenes at Merseyside Police. As national scrutiny on policing has been ramped up following a series of scandals, Jonathan became aware of an astonishing case involving a prolific fraudster with alleged links to organised criminal gangs and a Chief Inspector with years on the force. Jonathan spent hours covering both a lengthy, complex misconduct hearing and criminal proceedings against the fraudster to piece together this powerful investigation. Jonathan also exposed cultural issues within the force, breaking exclusive stories on the arrest of a senior detective for domestic violence offences and officers sacked for racism, misogyny and homophobia.