LONDON – A teenager was jailed for life yesterday after being convicted of murdering schoolboy Rhys Jones, the 11-year-old English boy shot dead as he walked home from football practice in a crime that stunned the country.
Rhys was hit in the neck in August 2007 by one of three bullets fired across a Liverpool pub car park by Sean Mercer, now 18, who had been aiming at members of a rival gang.
The shooting of the keen Everton supporter behind the Fir Tree Pub in Croxteth shocked the local community and increased concern about gang crime.
“Finally justice has been done for Rhys,” his father, Stephen Jones, said after the verdict.
Prosecutor Neil Flewitt said the shooting was the result of a violent rivalry between Croxteth’s Crocky Crew, which counted Mercer among its members, and nearby Norris Green’s Strand Gang.
Liverpool Crown Court heard that immediately after the shooting, Mercer set about getting rid of his clothing, his bicycle and the murder weapon, with the help of six other Crocky Crew members.
Mercer was told he must spend a minimum of 22 years behind bars.
James Yates (20), Melvin Coy (25), Gary Kays (26), Nathan Quinn (18), Dean Kelly (17), and a 16-year-old boy were found guilty of helping Mercer try to avoid justice.
All had denied the charges.
Kays and Coy were jailed for seven years, while the others will be sentenced at a later date.
The trial heard that Mercer – armed with a Smith Wesson .455 revolver, which dated back to 1915 and was used in the first World War – had not intended to shoot the boy and was firing at three members of the Strand Gang.
CCTV footage showed Rhys crossing the pub car park as he returned from football practice and being distracted by the sound of a bullet striking a container nearby.
He was then seen turning to look in the direction of the container and being struck by the second bullet, falling to the ground where he later died in the arms of his mother, Melanie. – (Reuters)