After boasting about the crime, the murderer of 11-year-old Rhys Jones was allegedly beaten by other convicts. For murdering Rhys as he walked home from football practice in Liverpool in 2008, Sean Mercer was sentenced to life in prison with a minimum of 22 years.
The murderer is detained at HMP Wakefield, a Category A prison in Yorkshire, where he angered his fellow inmates by boasting about the crime.
The Ministry of Justice claims that Mercer was assaulted and asserts that the 32-year-old killer “didn’t care” about killing the small kid while boasting about his ability to do as he liked.
The Daily Star claimed that an informant stated, “The detainees were furious because he was boasting about receiving so many blows.”
‘Mercer desires incarceration; he is infamous for attempting to bring in contraband and other mayhem.
‘However, he also has a mouth, which he started using in front of the wrong people at the wrong moment when he hadn’t even been here long.
Numerous individuals believe the punishment for what he did to the infant was long overdue.
The murderer had been moved to the prison after being accused of belonging to a corruption ring at HMP Frankland in Durham.
In the year 2000, he was moved to HMP Gartree in the Midlands.
As a result of the shooting death of nine-year-old Olivia Pratt-Korbel in Liverpool, tensions are allegedly high at the Yorkshire prison.
The young daughter passed away on the 15th anniversary of Rhys’ departure.
The insider stated, “There has been considerable discussion about the shootings, and Mercer has been linked to the murder of a little boy.”
The dispute was caused by his carelessness; people are intolerant of anyone who intend to hurt youngsters.
He was attempting to exert his power while he was detained here. No one in this room will tolerate it.’
The manner in which the murder of young Rhys Jones on his way home from football practice rocked the nation.
As he walked home from football training in broad daylight, Rhys Jones was felled by a single bullet to the neck; he was an innocent victim caught in the thoughtless and indiscriminate crossfire of two warring gangs in Croxteth Park, Liverpool.
The youngster died in his mother’s arms despite the efforts of the emergency medical personnel who had raced to the scene.
Melanie took her two sons to the dentist and then purchased a new school tie for Rhys on the July day when unimaginable violence invaded the Jones family’s peaceful and ordinary lives.
Before disaster struck, her younger son was ecstatic to get his new middle school uniform, which featured a Nike sports outfit.
The murder of Rhys stunned the nation and the world, as his parents received condolences and tributes from around the globe.
The funeral at Liverpool Cathedral was attended by about 2,500 mourners, who were encouraged to wear bright colors and football jerseys. Stephen, the father of Rhys, delivered a poem he had written for his son, while professional footballer Alan Stubbs read from the Bible.
Huge Everton fan Rhys was laid to rest in a blue coffin bearing the club’s insignia, while the heroes he rooted for on the terraces left a floral memorial, football boots, and shirts at the crime scene in his honor.
During a game against Blackburn Rovers at Goodison Park, where Rhys used to routinely watch his team while holding his father’s hand, fans and players honored him with one minute of applause.
A limited edition purple uniform designed in honour of the kid was the club’s fastest-selling pre-order shirt, earning tens of thousands of pounds for the children’s charity Liverpool Unites.
The Rhys Jones Memorial Fund generated funds for the construction of a new community centre near where the eleven-year-old died, which opened in August 2013, six years after his passing.
In addition to emotive tributes, the murder prompted a significant deal of discussion regarding firearms and gang culture in the House of Commons, where it was discussed many times.
Jacqui Smith, the home secretary, described the death as “tragic and terribly grave for his community.”
In October 2007, she continued, ‘I have budgeted £1 million and developed the tackling gangs action plan, and I am delighted that Jon Murphy, the deputy chief constable of Merseyside police, is now in charge of this task.
We are increasing our presence in the districts of Merseyside, Greater Manchester, Birmingham, and London with the highest rates of gun and gang-related crime.
How Rhys’s killer was brought to justice
On August 22, 2007, Rhys Jones is shot and killed near the Fir Tree pub in Croxteth on his way home from football practice.
On August 25, 2007, as condolences come in from all around the country and the world, Rhys’ beloved Everton hold a minute of applause in his honor prior to their Premier League match against Blackburn.
On September 6, 2007, at the young man’s funeral at Liverpool Cathedral, around 2,500 mourners wore football uniforms and brilliant colors.
The murder of Rhys is rebuilt in a September 26, 2007 edition of BBC’s Crimewatch. The parents of Rhys want that witnesses come forward.
Following dawn raids on April 15, 2008, twelve individuals are apprehended in connection with a homicide.
On October 2, 2008, the trial of murder suspect Sean Mercer begins at the Liverpool Crown Court.
On December 16, 2008, after a nine-week trial, Mercer is found guilty of the 11-year-murder old’s and sentenced to life with a minimum of 22 years.
The Rhys Jones Community Centre in Croxteth Park’s Langley Close will open on August 31, 2013.
Little Boy Blue will air on ITV on April 24, 2017.
On May 6, 2020, upon learning that Mercer intends to appeal his sentence, Rhys’ parents express fury.
As the police investigation, including more than 300 officers and gun crime specialists, was launched, Rhys’ parents issued two impassioned requests for the offender to be identified, the first on the day following their son’s death.
The pair then appeared on the BBC program Crimewatch and addressed their requests to the gunman’s mother, saying that the killer’s name had been whispered across the city’s estates and pubs – something the couple wished to distance themselves from.
While many in the community addressed violence and antisocial conduct, the couple’s focus on work and family may have prevented them from being aware of the gang culture that lurked in the nearby communities.
Melanie said to the Mail on Sunday in 2008, one year after the incident, how secret recordings of gang members’ conversations in their homes, which were used to build the case against them, provided a frightening peek into the area’s brutality.
Hearing the parents’ and children’s conversations, one may assume that neither party had any regard for the other. This is so removed from our daily lives that I cannot comprehend it. I am clueless as to the answer.
“You may talk about the importance of community centers and schools, but the ultimate responsibility lies with the parents,” she said.
In the hours following the tragedy, Radio City 96.7 devoted its programming to a discussion of gun violence and an amnesty for witnesses.
The parents endorsed Radio City’s anti-gun-crime campaign, In Rhys’s Name Get Guns Off Our Streets, which was launched after the event.
The tragedy also inspired ITV’s four-part documentary series Little Boy Blue, which premiered in 2017 and is currently being rebroadcast on Sunday nights. Stephen Graham portrays Detective Superintendent Dave ‘Ned’ Kelly, who is in charge of the investigation into the boy’s death.
Fans criticized the narrative as “heartbreaking” on social media at the time of its airing, while Pat Gallan, who was involved in the inquiry into the death, warned that it “should not be regarded as true.”
She believed that the episode, in which she is represented by Sara Powell, offered an unfair representation of her behavior at the time of the case, since she is portrayed as caring more about the force’s reputation than the family’s well-being.
ITV defended the representation of all characters in the series, telling the Telegraph, “Little Boy Blue is a drama based on extensive inquiry with the Jones family and others involved in the case.” We are satisfied with the depiction of the police officers involved in the murder investigation.
This month, it was announced that Sean Mercer, the convicted murderer, sought to appeal his sentence.
Rhys’s father told the Liverpool Echo, ‘You may have heard that Mercer has changed, but as his gangmates have shown, they’ve been in worse trouble since Rhys was murdered. I believe he has not changed.