Teenager guilty of Rhys murder

Dec 16 2008

A teenage gunman has been found guilty of the murder of 11-year-old Rhys Jones, who was gunned down as he made his way home from football training.

Gang member Sean Mercer, 18, was convicted at Liverpool Crown Court of blasting three bullets across a pub car park in Croxteth, Liverpool, after targeting rivals who had strayed on to his turf.

Innocent schoolboy Rhys was caught in the line of fire and shot in the neck. He died in his mother's arms a short time later.

After almost four days of deliberations, the jury of seven women and five men convicted Mercer of murder unanimously. The verdict was reached on Monday but could not be reported until now.

What the jurors did not know was that just two months before he shot Rhys, Mercer was involved in a chilling rehearsal of the killing. Waving a gun, he rode a motorcycle past members of the public on rival gang territory. The incident was not reported to police at the time.

The jurors were also unaware that just weeks after shooting Rhys, Mercer was given a three-year Asbo for terrorising security guards at a sports centre.

Fellow gang members James Yates, 20, of Dodman Road, and Nathan Quinn, 18, of Wickett Close, both Croxteth, and Gary Kays, 26, of Mallard Close, and Melvin Coy, 25, of Abbeyfield Drive, both West Derby, Liverpool, and Boy M, 16, were convicted unanimously on Monday of assisting Mercer after they helped Mercer evade the police for months.

Dean Kelly, 17, of Sword Walk, Croxteth, who was referred to as Boy K during the trial but can also now be named, was convicted by a majority of four related charges. Trial judge Mr Justice Irwin lifted reporting restrictions on Kelly at the end of the trial. The judge also lifted an order banning reporting the fact that Quinn is already serving five years for gun-related offences.

When the main verdicts were delivered, only two people in the packed courtroom could not hold back their emotions - Rhys's mother, Melanie Jones, and the killer's father, burly Joseph McCormick, who was dressed entirely in black.

As Mercer's "guilty" verdict was announced to the silent courtroom, Mrs Jones, 42, who was sitting opposite her son's killer, burst into tears and buried her head in her husband's shoulder to stifle her sobs. Rhys's father Stephen, 45, choked back tears as Mercer blinked, looked down and visibly paled, repeatedly puffing his cheeks out.