BRITAIN:Detectives investigating the murder of 11-year-old Rhys Jones arrested another 15-year-old boy yesterday amid persistent rumours, unconfirmed by officers, that the prime suspect is one of six people now held in custody on suspicion of murder.
News of the latest arrest came just as a church service, at which prayers were said for Rhys was ending, 200 yards from the murder scene. Merseyside police also announced that they had released another 15-year-old boy on bail. There have now been 10 arrests in connection with the shooting at the Fir Tree pub in Croxteth Park, north Liverpool, on Wednesday night.
The six being interviewed by police include the 15-year-old arrested yesterday, another boy aged 16, two 19-year-old youths and two girls aged 15 and 18.
A force spokesman said a woman seen pushing a pram near the Fir Tree pub minutes before Rhys was killed had come forward, but he gave no details of the information she had given officers. Police gave no extended briefings yesterday, leading to speculation that charges may be imminent. The name of one suspect is widely known in the area.
Other sources suggest that football-mad Rhys could have been the innocent victim of a row over a girl, with the three shots fired at a BMW in the pub car park. Police forensic teams continued to search the area around the pub and jacked up a large container as they hunted for bullet casings.
Rhys's 17-year-old brother Owen arrived at the scene with five friends, and laid flowers beside the growing number of tributes next to a bus shelter in front of the Fir Tree.
On Saturday night, armed police set up roadblocks on Stonebridge Lane in Croxteth, searched young men and used sniffer dogs to check cars. They also handed out leaflets quoting from the broadcast interview given by Rhys's parents, Melanie and Stephen, on Thursday. "Merseyside police need your help," said the message on the leaflet. "Please provide us with any information you have so that we can solve this terrible crime."
Beyond Liverpool, Labour and Tories clashed over gun crime statistics as Jacqui Smith, the home secretary, proposed setting up drop-off zones where people could hand in guns or offer tip-offs anonymously.
The proposals were greeted with scorn by the shadow justice secretary Nick Herbert, who said that ministers had failed to address the scale of the problem. "It's a feeble response. I think the government, frankly, seem paralysed in the wake of this real concern in the country about the increase in violence and in particular the increase in knife crime and gun crime," he said.
Jack Straw, the justice secretary, insisted on BBC News 24 that gun crime was now coming down as a result of the steps taken by the government.
"We are concerned that within the overall record, which is a good one, of crime going down in the last 10-11 years, the number of gun-related incidents has gone up," he said. "But it has now started to fall."
David Cameron, the Tory leader, accused Mr Straw of "self-satisfied comments" and "complacency" and accused ministers of spinning statistics.