This is a life sentence... the pain of losing Rhys will always be with us
Parents on 10 years since murder
THE parents of Rhys Jones have told how their heartache never diminishes, nearly 10 years after the 11-year-old boy was shot dead.
And in a rare joint interview they said killer Sean Mercer condemned them to a life sentence of pain and anguish, while he will one day again have freedom.
Rhys was murdered by the 16-year-old on his way home from football practice in Liverpool in August 2007.
Mercer was 18 when jailed for a minimum 22 years after a police investigation led by Detective Superintendent Dave Kelly.
But Rhys’ parents Steve and Mel admit they have struggled to make sense of the tragedy in the immediate aftermath and in the years since.
Steve Jones tells Susanna Reid in a new ITV documentary tonight: “Mercer gets 22 years which at the time we were happy with that tariff, but we live that life sentence now.
“There is no end of sentence for us, there just isn’t. We are the ones that suffer, our family is still suffering and will do for the rest of our lives, from the pain of losing Rhys.”
Mel breaks down as she recalls the aftermath of their son’s shooting while he crossed a pub car park. She says: “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 was such a very happy, outgoing boy.”
Mel also blasted Mercer’s mum Janette and his friends for attempting to cover up his wicked crime, which meant it took months for police to gather enough
evidence to prosecute him. Still showing signs of anger, she says: “She knew what he did and she covered it up.
“And she just lied and lied and lied again to the police. For Dave Kelly to get her convicted, really made my day.
“It’s not just Sean Mercer, if he didn’t have all them people around him, all covering up for him, and giving him false alibis, he’d have been caught a bit sooner. So they all deserve what they got.”
The programme opens with a distressing 999 call by Rhys’ football coach Steve Goeghegan. He tells the emergency services: “There’s a young lad been shot. He’s 11 and he’s on my football team. Oh my God, there is blood everywhere. Someone just said they think he is dead.”
In the programme, Susanna gains exclusive access to recordings from secret police equipment placed in the homes of gang members suspected of murdering Everton fan Rhys.
The tapes highlight the lengths the gang and family members went to in a bid to cover up Mercer’s crime.
They include burning sim cards, urging people to lie and offering fake alibis to gangsters as they hid the gun.
Former officer Mr Kelly tells the documentary he felt compelled to work tirelessly on the case.
He says: “I met Mel and Steve, lovely people. Their world had been wrecked.
“And then she got hold of my hand and she was comforting me. And I knew then, more than any other time, that we had to get people brought to justice for them.
“We convicted seven people involved in the murder and those that tried to cover their tracks.
“I’m very proud. Not just me, the whole team. I can look Mel and Steve in the eye and say I have done what I said I would.”
The Murder of Rhys Jones: Police Tapes airs tonight on ITV at 9pm.
He was just lying there in a huge pool of blood MUM MEL ON MOMENTS AFTER RHYS WAS SHOT