New arrest over Liverpool boy's murder

Police in Liverpool arrested another teenager today in connection with the murder of 11-year-old schoolboy Rhys Jones, while …

Police in Liverpool arrested another teenager today in connection with the murder of 11-year-old schoolboy Rhys Jones, while five others remained in custody.

The 15-year-old was detained as worshippers said prayers for the schoolboy in churches across Liverpool. Another boy, also aged 15, was bailed.

Rhys Jones
Rhys Jones

Detectives are questioning six teenagers over the murder: Boys aged 15 and 16; two men aged 19 and girls aged 15 and 18.

Police said they have traced and spoken to a dark-haired woman seen pushing a pram in the area at the time of the shooting.

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Rhys was remembered at church services across the city, including the Anglican cathedral.

"It challenges us all in our faith," Canon Anthony Hawley, acting Dean of Liverpool Cathedral, told Sky News. "These tragedies do occur from time to time and certainly in Liverpool we are not unfamiliar with them.

"It is a challenge to people of all faiths to ask 'just who is my neighbour and where I stand in the community in which I live?'."

As police renewed appeals for help in finding Rhys's killer, Home Secretary Jacqui Smith announced plans to try to get more guns off the streets

She said "drop-off zones" could be set up to allow people to hand in weapons.

"Sometimes people ask friends or other members of their family to look after their guns," she said.

"They know it is wrong and they want to find a way to get that gun off their family member."

On Saturday, police expressed concern at the lack of evidence from the public and urged people to "stand up and be counted".

Chief Superintendent Chris Armitt of Merseyside Police said he would protect people scared of reprisals from local gangs if they come forward.

"We understand that people are frightened, but people have got to stand up and be counted," he told reporters. "We have not had the level of information about those key issues that we would expect and that we want.

"We understand those concerns and I'm trying to offer reassurance that we will do something about protecting people."

Rhys was shot dead outside a pub in the Croxteth area of Liverpool on Wednesday in an attack that British prime minister Gordon Brown called a "heinous crime".

The shooting was the latest in a spate of murders of young people across Britain this year that have focused attention on gang-related violence.