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| Rhys accused 'destroyed clothes' | |
| (10 minutes later) | |
| The teenager accused of murdering Rhys Jones immediately tried to cover his tracks after shooting the 11-year-old in a pub car park, a court heard. | The teenager accused of murdering Rhys Jones immediately tried to cover his tracks after shooting the 11-year-old in a pub car park, a court heard. |
| Sean Mercer, 18, disposed of his gun and clothing to avoid detection after the shooting in Croxteth Park in August 2007, Liverpool Crown Court was told. | Sean Mercer, 18, disposed of his gun and clothing to avoid detection after the shooting in Croxteth Park in August 2007, Liverpool Crown Court was told. |
| Neil Flewitt QC, told the jury he was assisted in his actions by six others. | Neil Flewitt QC, told the jury he was assisted in his actions by six others. |
| Mr Mercer, of Good Shepherd Close, Croxteth, denies murder. Six others deny assisting an offender. | Mr Mercer, of Good Shepherd Close, Croxteth, denies murder. Six others deny assisting an offender. |
| Rhys was shot dead on the Fir Tree pub car park, a few hundred yards from his house, as he walked home from football training on 22 August. | |
| Mr Flewitt told the court that as Rhys walked across the car park, a hooded gunman on a bicycle came from behind the pub and fired three shots. | |
| 'Violent rivalry' | |
| "One of those shots hit Rhys Jones in the neck and killed him," said Mr Flewitt. | |
| Rhys was not Sean Mercer's intended victim, he added, but it was the prosecution's case that he fired the fatal shot and was therefore guilty of murder. | |
| Mr Flewitt said it was the prosecution case that Rhys 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 jury heard the shooting was a product 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 Nogga Dogs. | |
| James Yates, 20, of Dodman Road, Croxteth; Gary Kays, 25, of Mallard Close, and Melvin Coy, 24, of Abbeyfield Drive, both West Derby, Liverpool, are accused of assisting an offender, along with two boys aged 16 and 17, who cannot be identified. | |
| The sixth accused person, another 17-year-old boy, also denies possessing an illegal firearm and ammunition. | The sixth accused person, another 17-year-old boy, also denies possessing an illegal firearm and ammunition. |
| The trial continues. |