15 years to the day that little Rhys Jones was gunned down, how has the unthinkable happened again?
CARRIED to his grave in an Everton-blue coffin, Rhys Jones is remembered by the nation as the innocently grinning lad in his Toffees strip.
An ordinary, football-obsessed 11-year-boy, Rhys bled to death in his mum’s arms in a Liverpool car park after being struck by a gangster’s stray bullet.
Such a depraved murder, made worse by the ensuing wall of silence from the killer’s family and associates, should have hastened an end to such bloodshed and mayhem.
Police probing Rhys’s murder had to overcome a criminal omerta which saw mothers lie as they tried to keep their sons from prison.
But 15 years to the day when Rhys was murdered, little Olivia Pratt-Korbel was this week caught in the crossfire of a mobsters’ feud in the Knotty Ash area of the same city.
And once again, cops investigating the horror are battling a wall of silence in gangland — although a man has now been arrested on suspicion of Olivia’s murder.
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Liverpool assistant mayor Harry Doyle said it was “unthinkable” that another child had been killed on the anniversary of Rhys’s murder.
Mr Doyle — who was the same age as Rhys when he died — said: “My mum wouldn’t let me walk to school around that time.
“It is unthinkable and unbelievable this has happened again 15 years on.”
On August 22, 2007, Everton season ticket holder Rhys was strolling home from football practice to his home in Liverpool’s Croxteth Park on a pleasant summer evening.
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As young Rhys crossed the car park of the Fir Tree pub, 16-year-old wannabe hoodlum Sean Mercer rode up on a mountain bike armed with a Smith & Wesson revolver.
Baby-faced Mercer, a member of the Croxteth Crew, was trying to fire on youths from the rival Strand Gang from neighbouring Norris Green as part of a bloody turf war.
STILL WEARING SHIN PADS
Cocky Mercer was a suspect from the beginning and was questioned by cops soon after Rhys’s death.
Yet it would be eight long months before they would be able to charge him with murder.
The so-called Crocky Crew had closed ranks to protect one of their own.
Mercer’s mum, Janette, told cops a “pack of lies” for over a year about the bike her son had been using on the day he killed Rhys — knowing that he was a chief suspect.
With many too frightened of the gang to contact cops with evidence, it took “inspired” and controversial detective methods to snare Mercer.
Rhys, who had an older brother, was described by his Fir Tree FC coach Steve Geoghegan as “probably the best footballer in our team”.
He added: “He was really skilful, he could take kids on, beat kids, run and score spectacular goals.”
In a cruel twist of fate, Steve was driving past Rhys when the bullet struck the young lad in the back.
He revealed in 2017: “When I got to him, Rhys was lying in a pool of blood. He was lying there with his eyes open.”
Steve rang Rhys’s mum, Melanie, who arrived minutes later.
In heart-rending words, Mel said: “I just ran over to him and put my arms under his head.
“I was talking to him and talking to him, and saying, ‘Stay with me, stay with me Rhys’.
“But there was no response from him at all. He was just lying there in a huge pool of blood.
“He had been such a very happy, outgoing boy.”
Just minutes from his home, Rhys was still wearing his shin pads and football kit when he met his death.
At least 12 people had witnessed the murder but deadly silence then shrouded the police investigation.
After the killing, at 8pm the same day, Mercer had handed the murder weapon to a 17-year-old with no criminal record.
The teenager — known as Boy X — hid the 90-year-old .455 revolver under blankets in a dog kennel at his home.
Sinister Mercer told him: “Don’t say nothing to no-one.”
Then Mercer was spirited away to an industrial estate in Kirkby on the other side of the M57 by gang members.
There he was doused with petrol to remove any traces of gunpowder residue and his clothes were burned.
The mountain bike he had been riding was stripped of its wheels and dumped in undergrowth.
A month later Rhy’s mum Melanie and dad Stephen — praised for their dignity as they grieved — made a moving appeal for witnesses.
With tears in her eyes, Mrs Jones said: “Our little Rhys would have been 12 next week. He wanted a new mobile phone for his present.
“We always go to the Chinese for his birthday. That’s his favourite meal. I don’t know if we can go out next week.”
But the investigation was stalled.
One Croxteth youth said at the time: “A lot of people round here know who did it, and that he has been had in by the bizzies (police) and let out on bail.
"Most people know his name. But no one has seen him round here for weeks.
"They say he’s gone away to lie low at a relative’s house somewhere else.”
There were wire taps, tip-offs and thousands of hours of old-fashioned policing led by tenacious Detective Superintendent Dave Kelly.
The hunt for the killer was later turned into an ITV drama series called Little Boy Blue, starring Stephen Graham as Det Supt Kelly.
During police searches, bugging devices had been hidden in the homes of two of the Crocky Crew — including James Yates who was said to have supplied the weapon.
GANG 'NO-GRASS CULTURE'
In one recording, Mercer was heard trying to intimidate a witness into changing their statement.
Clues led police to Boy X’s home in Croxteth, where they found the murder weapon in a red-and-white plastic bag in the attic.
They then offered Boy X immunity from prosecution — and he would later be a star witness at the gang’s trial.
After a police appeal, the mountain bike that Mercer had been riding — found by a passerby in Kirby — was handed in. Mercer’s DNA was on it.
It had taken thousands of hours and much tenacity, but the cops were able to swoop on Mercer and his associates.
Mercer puffed out his cheeks as judge Mr Justice Irwin jailed him for a minimum of 22 years at Liverpool Crown Court in 2008.
In his sentencing remarks, the judge told Mercer and his pals: “You are not soldiers. You have no discipline, no training, no honour.
“You do not command respect. You are selfish, shallow criminals, remarkable only by the danger that you pose to others.”
A Sun investigation revealed how Mercer’s mum Janette worked as a prostitute during her son Sean’s trial, selling sex on at least two occasions.
She offered sex to a reporter for £50 “all in”.
She was one of a total of 11 people who were jailed for offences related to Rhys’ murder.
Their prison terms combined totalled 61 years and six months.
All, apart from Mercer himself, have since been released from their original sentences. Some have gone on to re-offend and spend more time behind bars.
Mercer — serving his sentence in HMP Frankland, Durham — could be let out in 2030 at the earliest, when he will be 40.
But Det Supt Kelly believes he should be incarcerated for life, saying: “Some people do get rehabilitated and prosper, but the majority don’t.”
Meanwhile, Rhys’s parents Mel and Stephen have continued to devote themselves to their beloved son’s memory.
They have campaigned for improved youth services and created a lasting memorial to their child with the Rhys Jones Community Centre.
Dad Stephen told a TV documentary last year: “We did a lot of fundraising after we lost Rhys, and we built the little sports centre where Fir Tree used to train.
“We’re reminded every day of Rhys — we think about him every day.”
This week, Detective Chief Superintendent Mark Kameen, who is leading the investigation into the shooting of Olivia Pratt-Korbel, attacked the Liverpool criminal fraternity’s “no-grass culture”.
An ex-Merseyside Police investigator — who was part of the Rhys Jones murder probe — said this week that for some Liverpool gang members “a grass is worse than being a murderer”.
The source added: “Nobody will talk, they won’t talk even in the murder of a young child.
“They’re not bothered because, to them, being a grass has worse connotations than going to prison for killing a kid.”
Olivia was killed by a balaclava-clad gunman targeting convicted drug dealer and burglar Joseph Nee, 35, released from jail on licence, who was shot and injured after forcing his way into the schoolgirl’s home.
Nee, now in hospital, has now been arrested on suspicion of breaching his licence.
A 36-year-old man has been arrested in Huyton, Liverpool, on suspicion of murder.
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Those with information about the killing must find it within them-selves to come forward.
If not for their own peace of mind, then for another innocent, grieving family who need justice.
