Sean Mercer, jailed for killing tragic schoolboy Rhys Jones, has unexpectedly dropped his appeal against his prison sentence.
Mercer, 18, was sentenced to serve a minimum of 22 years and was due to go to the Court of Appeal in London next week to challenge the sentence.
He was convicted by a unanimous jury and it seems the Croxteth gang member has accepted he will not be free until 2030 at the earliest.
Rhys’s parents, Melanie and Stephen Jones, have been spared the ordeal of having come face-to-face with their son’s killer again.
A spokesman for the Court of Appeal confirmed the case had now been removed from their lists.
Last December, High Court judge Mr Justice Irwin jailed Mercer for life and ordered he serve a minimum 22 years for shooting innocent schoolboy Rhys outside the Fir Tree pub in August 2007.
Currently in a young offenders institute, Mercer will be transferred to an adult prison when he is 21.
Mercer, of Good Shepherd Close, Croxteth, was 16 when he used a 1915 Smith & Wesson revolver to shoot Rhys as he walked home from football practice.
Mercer had been targeting rival gang members and subsequently tried to cover up his involvement.
After an 11-week trial at Liverpool Crown Court, he and six others were jailed for a total of 49 years.
matt, Manchester around 2 years, 8 months ago