The father of Rhys Jones's killer

Saftlad

The father of Rhys Jones's killer has been arrested on suspicion of an arson attack on the home of his son's fellow gang member Gary Kays.

Joseph McCormick, 56, was detained by Merseyside Police this week after the home Kays shared with his family in Croxteth Park, Liverpool, was set alight.

McCormick, whose murderer son Sean Mercer, 18, was locked up for life last year, was questioned then released on bail, sources said.

A petrol bomb was launched through a downstairs window of the tidy property on Mallard Close in the early hours of Saturday

Businessman Gary Kays senior and his wife Patricia were on holiday at the time but their daughter was at home. She and her boyfriend managed to extinguish the fire before the emergency services arrived.

During last December's murder trial Kays junior, 26, was jailed for seven years. He was unanimously convicted of two counts of assisting an offender and played a central role in trying to cover up Sean Mercer's guilt.

As well as helping to ferry Mercer to an industrial lock-up where gunshot residue was washed off him and his clothes burned, Kays was responsible for putting Mercer at the murder scene. He phoned his fellow Croxteth Crew gang to tell him rival Norris Green thugs were on their turf.

It was Kays's information that led Mercer to the Fir Tree pub where he shot at opposition gang members - but tragically hit Rhys, 11, in the back. The bullet exited through the football-mad youngster's neck and he bled to death in the arms of his mother, Melanie.

Throughout his time in the witness box at Liverpool Crown Court, Kays, who worked at the family firm GK Construction, smirked and tried to dodge the prosecuting QC's questions. But he was convicted and is serving his sentence at Wymott jail, Leyland, Lancashire.

After the weekend's attack, police conducted house to house inquiries and viewed CCTV from the area. A police source said McCormick had been arrested and released on bail to an unspecified date.

FlakeySugarButt · Posted: Thu Jul 16, 2009 8:05 am Post subject:

Nice family.

dawn · Posted: Sun Jul 19, 2009 2:53 pm Post subject:

if he did it or not... its still wrong what as happened.... im in two minds on this as its also just deserts for murdering a child in the first place