Twelve arrested in hunt for killer of Rhys Jones

Apr 15 2008 By Richard Down

Rhys Jones

TWELVE people have now been arrested over the murder of Liverpool schoolboy Rhys Jones.

More than 100 Merseyside Police officers raided 10 addresses in Croxteth early this morning.

Four males aged 17, 24, 25, and 16 were arrested on suspicion of murdering the 11-year-old in Croxteth Park in August last year.

Another 17-year-old has been arrested on suspiscion of assisting an offender.

In total, nine men and three women have been detained at police stations across Merseyside for a variety of alleged offences, a police spokesman said.

Rhys was shot by a teenage gunman on a bicycle on the car park of the Fir Tree pub on August 22.

Despite more than 30 arrests no-one has been charged over his death.

Following the dawn raids at addresses in the tough Croxteth neighbourhood of Liverpool, including a 16-year-old boy who was arrested on suspicion of assisting an offender, attempting to pervert the course of justice and possession of a firearm and ammunition.

A 49-year-old man and a 15-year-old boy were arrested on suspicion of assisting an offender and attempting to pervert the course of justice.

Three women, aged 50, 54 and 21 years, and a 22-year-old man, were arrested on suspicion of attempting to pervert the course of justice.

A force spokesman said the 12 suspects will be interviewed by murder squad detectives.