Liverpool teenager found guilty of Rhys murder

by Karl Walderman. Published Tue 16 Dec 2008 12:30, Last updated: 2008-12-16

Liverpool teenager Sean Mercer has been found guilty of murdering schoolboy Rhys Jones outside a pub in Croxteth last year.

Mercer, 18 was the police's prime suspect in the shooting of 11-year-old Rhys who was killed by a single shot as he walked home from football practice in August last year.

The 12 members of the jury at Liverpool Crown Court found Mercer guilty of firing the fatal shot that killed the young Everton fan in the car park of the Fir Tree pub.

Six others were also found guilty of assisting an offender following the nine week trial.

Rhys' parents, Stephen and Melanie Jones broke down in tears as the guilty verdict was read out in court after four days of deliberation from the jury.

Dark haired Mercer of Good Shepherd Close, Croxteth, showed no emotion as the seven woman and five men of the jury annouced their decision and he was lead from the dock.

He now faces up to life in prison.

A member of the Croxteth Crew, Mercer rode to the pub carpark carrying a loaded gun with the intention of shooting rival gang members of the Norris Green Strand Gang.

Rhys died in the arms of his mother after getting hit by a single bullet in the neck.

Fellow gang members Gary Kays, 26, of Mallard Close and Melvin Coy, 25, of Abbeyfield Drive, both West Derby and James Yates, 20, of Dodman Road and Nathan Quinn, 18, of Wickett Close, both Croxteth were unanimously convicted of assisting an offender.

Boy K, can now be named as Dean Kelly, 17, of Sword Walk, Croxteth, and Boy M, 16, who cannot be named for legal reasons was also convicted of related charges.

Mercer was first arrested in September 2007 but was not charged with murdering Rhys until April 2008 after the longest and most intense murder investigations in the history of Merseyside Police.