Find my boy's killer, pleads mother

[Mike]

The heartbroken mother of murdered 11-year-old Rhys Jones has begged for help in finding the killer of her "baby".

As detectives continued to hunt the teenager who shot Rhys in the back of the neck as he played football with friends, his parents pleaded for information.

"Our son was only 11, our baby," said Rhys' mother Melanie. "This should not happen, this should not be going on. Please help us. I just want them caught."

The youngster's father, Stephen, said: "We are devastated, we have lost our world, the world has lost a good guy." The 44-year-old added: "It shouldn't happen in this country."

Rhys died after being shot in the neck as he played football with friends outside the Fir Tree pub in Croxteth, Liverpool, at around 7.30pm on Wednesday.

Residents said shots were fired by a teenager who rode past the pub on a BMX bike.

Mrs Jones, 41, cradled her son in her arms in his dying moments as they waited for paramedics.

Officers arrested a 14-year-old boy and an 18-year-old man on suspicion of murdering the youngster, but released them on police bail on Thursday night.

Speaking at Merseyside Police headquarters on Thursday in an emotional but dignified interview with the media, Mr Jones said his football-mad son was too young to know about the world of guns and gangs.

He said: "The guy (Rhys) probably doesn't know what a gang is, he's never been in some sort of gang. He's got his mates, he's got the people who he hangs around with, he goes and plays football."

Croxteth is about 15-20 miles from our house. Its quite a nice area of Liverpool.

I saw the report of the shooting on the news, then I saw the parents plea for information.

I have to admit that Im shocked by what has happened, I felt choked and really sadened by it

It just seems to be a senseless loss of a young life

Mike...

[saz180]

This news is very very sad, and has shocked me too,

R.I.P Rhys Jones

[madcat]

I went into the Tesco Express in Southport tonight and they held a minutes silence for Rhys at 7:15pm tonight. They had a sign saying that they wished their colleagues well... I thought that was a nice touch.

It's like the Jamie Bulger thing. I was in Australia when it went to court and it made headline news over there as well as here.

Something like this touches everyone.. unless you have no heart.

Poor family.

MadCat

[saz180]

Was a lovely thing to do, also wasnt liverpool or everton going to do a minute silence before the game today? i hope they did.