Rhys Jones’ dad has recalled the heartbreaking second he was informed his 11-year-old son was gunned down within the Croxteth space of Liverpool as he walked house from soccer apply.
On twenty second August 2011, Rhys Jones was caught within the crossfire of a neighborhood gang warfare being waged in Liverpool, when 16-year-old Sean Mercer opened hearth, sparking one of many UK’s most high-profile homicide investigations in current reminiscence.
Talking in documentary Britain’s Deadliest Children on discovery+, his dad Steve Jones has spoken of the heartbreaking second he found Rhys had been shot within the automobile park only a few hundred yards away from their household house.
Recalling listening to the information from his spouse as he drove to work, he explains: ‘I used to be on the M57 heading up in the direction of Southport when Mel phoned saying that Rhys had been shot and I wanted to go house.
‘She sounded distraught, completely in tears, you possibly can hear in her voice.’ With Mel now on the scene, Rhys was rushed to hospital.

Rhys Jones’ dad Steve (pictured) has recalled the heartbreaking second he was informed his 11-year-old son was gunned down within the Croxteth space of Liverpool as he walked house from soccer apply

On twenty second August 2011, Rhys Jones (pictured) was caught within the crossfire of a neighborhood gang warfare being waged in Liverpool, when 16-year-old Sean Mercer opened hearth, sparking one of many UK’s most high-profile homicide investigations in current reminiscence

For killing 11-year-old Rhys Jones, Sean Mercer was jailed for all times and ordered to serve a minimal of twenty-two years. All of his accomplices had been additionally discovered responsible, and handed sentences starting from two to seven years (pictured)
Tragically, and regardless of the most effective efforts of paramedics and hospital workers, Rhys died of his accidents shortly after arriving at Alder Hey Youngsters’s Hospital.
‘Your thoughts simply does not need to take it in, does not need to settle for it,’ Steve Jones says, reflecting on his son’s loss of life.
A proud Evertonian, Rhys was strolling house from soccer apply when he was shot within the again.
For Rhys’ soccer coach, Steve Geoghegan, a traditional summer time’s night coaching session shortly turned to tragedy.
Recalling the horrific second he noticed the teen hit the bottom, simply seconds after being shot, he explains: ‘I begin to put my stuff within the automobile and Rhys walked previous me, I stated “right here you’re, Rhys. I am going to drop you off.” He stated, “no it is alright, I am going to stroll.”
‘I bought in my automobile, reversed it, went to drive out, and my son Sean screamed,’ Steve says, recalling the second three gunshots rang out. ‘My son Sean had heard the gunshots; I did not hear nothing.

In emotional scenes, DCI Kelly (pictured) breaks down as he describes what the second was like when he went to see Rhys Jones’ mother and father after the deadly capturing
As he screamed, I form of jumped, and he shouted Rhys’ identify. I knew Rhys was over to my proper, and I truly appeared out of the window to my proper. I truly caught Rhys fall, I seen him fall.’
‘I jumped out the automobile, my son bought there seconds earlier than me, and by the point I bought there Rhys was mendacity in a pool of blood.’
As a passer-by began to manage first help, Steve describes how he felt because the horror of the scenario set in.
‘She’s screaming to me, ‘he is been shot!’ I simply went numb if I am sincere, I did not know what to do. I noticed Rhys mendacity there and his eyes had been open,’ he says.
Assigned to the case, Detective Chief Inspector Dave Kelly was tasked with discovering Rhys’ killer, an unknown assailant caught on CCTV using a bicycle. However DCI Kelly’s first job was to go to the hospital to see the mother and father.

Because the investigation progressed, it turned obvious to the police that Rhys (pictured) had been caught within the crossfire of a neighborhood gang warfare, pointing to Mercer as the first suspect within the capturing
Breaking down as he describes what that second was like, he says: ‘An 11-year-old boy. He was on account of go to senior faculty in September; she [Mel Jones] bought his uniform and stuff prepared for him. And he was simply taken out.
‘Their world had been ripped aside. Simply ripped aside. And it was for me and the crew to attempt to give them some solutions and to convey the individuals who had been accountable to justice.
‘However they’re two pretty folks. I simply wished to do my job in order that Mel and Steve may get some justice.’
But whereas the homicide was captured on CCTV, police had been unable to determine Rhys’ killer.
‘We checked out enhancing the video by means of varied companies across the nation and certainly around the globe, however no, nothing,’ DCI Kelly reveals.
However though the killer could not be recognized from the CCTV, one identify was consistently being talked about to officers: 16-year-old native troublemaker Sean Mercer.
‘Sean Mercer was a neighborhood lad; he’d been stopped on quite a few events. I believed he was a part of a gang known as the Croxteth Crew, so he was thrown within the body,’ DCI Kelly notes.
‘It is clear that he was fairly senior, and folks locally had been fairly petrified of him,’ native journalist Helen Carter provides.
Because the investigation progressed, it turned obvious to the police that Rhys had been caught within the crossfire of a neighborhood gang warfare, pointing to Mercer as the first suspect within the capturing.
However 4 months on from the homicide, whereas DCI Kelly and his crew patiently gathered proof, Mercer arrogantly strolled about Liverpool, believing that he was within the clear.
‘He is simply strolling round like he hasn’t bought a care on the earth,’ Steve Geoghegan recollects. ‘He was sort of like king of the property, swaggering round together with his acolytes simply being an absolute prat, actually,’ journalist Helen Carter provides.
In line with Forensic Psychologist Professor David Wilson, Mercer’s perspective was certainly one of ‘invincibility.’
‘He will need to have felt as if he had bought away with homicide. Now, what that does for him is that makes him really feel invincible, that provides him even higher standing within the gang.’
Having pieced the investigation collectively, crucially linking the homicide weapon and ammunition to Mercer, DCI Kelly was in a position to arrest and cost Mercer. However, as Steve Jones attests, DCI Kelly’s quest for justice did not cease there.
‘If he had simply bought the one that pulled the set off, we’d have been blissful, however Dave was insistent that he was going to get as many individuals as he may.’

After eight months gathering proof, the investigation crew lastly had sufficient to cost Mercer with Rhys Jones’ homicide, in addition to 16 different folks in reference to the capturing. Pictured, the weapon that killed Rhys Jones
After eight months gathering proof, the investigation crew lastly had sufficient to cost Mercer with Rhys Jones’ homicide, in addition to 16 different folks in reference to the capturing.
It was one other eight months till Mercer and his colleagues had been placed on trial at Liverpool Crown Courtroom.
With the world watching, Mercer and the gang’s behaviour within the dock was deplorable, in keeping with DCI Kelly.
‘From day one the behaviour from all of the defendants was disgraceful,’ he says.
‘Sean and all of the defendants had been all completely appallingly behaved, they had been very disrespectful in the direction of the choose, they’d attempt to stare us out within the press gallery; they’d do something to attempt to look robust and intimidatory,’ journalist Helen Carter provides.
Ultimately, Mercer’s conceitedness can be his undoing. After deliberating for 3 and half days, the jury discovered Sean responsible of Rhys Jones’ homicide.
‘Mel was euphoric, she hugged me,’ DCI Kelly remembers. ‘We truly bought a consequence, we bought some form of justice for Rhys,’ Steve Jones provides.
For killing 11-year-old Rhys Jones, Sean Mercer was jailed for all times and ordered to serve a minimal of twenty-two years. All of his accomplices had been additionally discovered responsible, and handed sentences starting from two to seven years.
Within the wake of their son’s tragic loss of life, Steve and Mel Jones have tried to take one thing from their ordeal and switch it right into a constructive, campaigning for youth companies and creating a long-lasting memorial to their son: the Rhys Jones Group Centre.
‘We did plenty of fundraising after we misplaced Rhys, and we constructed the little sports activities centre the place Fir Tree used to coach,’ Steve Jones says. ‘We’re reminded every single day of Rhys; we take into consideration him each.’
Britain’s Deadliest Children is offered to stream as a boxset from Saturday thirty first of July on discovery+, with episodes additionally airing weekly on Quest Purple
