Rhys 'killed due to gang rivalry'

The innocent 11-year-old was shot dead when he wandered into the line of fire as teenager Sean Mercer fired three shots of a revolver across a pub car park, Liverpool Crown Court was told.

Mercer, 18, denies murdering Rhys in the car park of the Fir Tree pub, Croxteth Park, Liverpool, in August last year.

During Thursday's opening speech by prosecutor Neil Flewitt QC, a gasp was heard from the jury box as CCTV footage showed the moment Rhys was struck by the bullet and fell to the ground.

Seconds before the short video clip was played, Rhys's mother, Melanie, 42, fled the court in tears as the prosecution began to outline her son's final moments.

Mrs Jones, wearing a purple dress and cardigan, had sat through the opening of the trial alongside her husband, Stephen, 45, who wore a grey suit and a purple ribbon - the symbol of an anti-gun campaign launched in Liverpool in memory of Rhys. The couple sat listening intently to Mr Flewitt and occasionally looked at Mercer in the dock.

The QC told the jury the shooting was the result of "fierce and frequently violent rivalry" between young gang members from Croxteth's Crocky Crew and nearby Norris Green's Strand Gang, also known as the Nogga Dogs.

Mr Flewitt said Mercer, who was wielding a Smith & Wesson .455 revolver, had not intended to shoot Rhys.

He said: "On the contrary, it is the prosecution case that he was the innocent victim of a long-running feud between rival gangs operating in and around the area of the Fir Tree public house."

The prosecution allege that Mercer, of Good Shepherd Close, Croxteth, was helped to avoid justice by six other members of the Crocky Crew. James Yates, 20, Melvin Coy, 25, and Gary Kays, 25, as well as two 17-year-old boys and a 16-year old boy, who are too young to be named, all deny assisting an offender.