Madeleine McCann's gran offers support to family of Rhys Jones

Feb 20 2008

The anguish Rhys Jones’s parents suffer at not having justice will get worse, Madeleine McCann’s grandmother has said.

Susan Healey, 62, mother of Kate McCann, was joined by another Liverpool mother united in grief as they sent their best wishes to Stephen and Melanie Jones six months after their son was shot dead.

Mrs Healey and Mary Kelly, 42, whose son Liam, 16, was shot dead in Liverpool in 2004, said Rhys’s parents will feel punished the longer they wait for his killer to face justice.

Speaking about the difficulty of living without justice, Mrs Healey said Kate McCann, 39, wrote to Rhys’s parents in the days after his murder to offer sympathy.

She said: “Because Kate had been through such a trauma it was an obvious thing to do for someone from Liverpool.

“It gets a lot harder; each day is harder than the day before.

“I can sympathise with them absolutely for not having justice, I really hope they get it at some point.”

She added they must be strong for eldest son, Owen, 18, saying: “I am very sorry for Rhys’s parents but the only difference is they know what happened to Rhys and his mother got to hold him.

“They have to live their lives for their other child.

“It is easy to give up but you have to go on.

“I have great sympathy for Rhys’s parents.

“It beggars belief that the police know who it is but can’t do anything.

“Is everybody too afraid to make a stand?”

Mary Kelly, of pressure group Mothers Against Guns, is still awaiting justice for her son - who in 2004 was Merseyside’s youngest gun victim until Rhys took that grim distinction.

Despite a 19-year-old being sentenced to 21 years for his murder, Merseyside Police want to trace another man for the murder.

Ms Kelly said: “It is torment.

“When the phone rings I hope it is the police to say they’ve caught him.

“The government should be doing more and the police should be doing more - it would deter youths from guns.

“If he is caught it still won’t be justice because killers have a bit of hope that they will be free one day.

“They should know they will die in prison because our children aren’t coming back to us.”

Of Rhys’s parents, she said: “They will be going through pure heartache.

“It is pure heartache from the minute you get up to the moment you fall asleep.

“It’s punishing, you never get over it.

“I long to see Liam and to be reunited with him.

“I should be enjoying my life but every day is heartache.

“Justice will never be given to people until they stand up and shout that life should mean life. We are only asking for justice.”