Tearful crowds in vigil for Rhys

Sep 3 2007 by Vicky Anderson, Liverpool Daily Post

Community leaders call on schoolboy’s killer to give himself up at the emotional gathering. Vicky Anderson reports

AMID pouring rain and rolls of thunder, hundreds of Liverpool people came together yesterday in an emotional vigil to remember murdered schoolboy Rhys Jones.

The 11-year-old’s parents Melanie and Stephen Jones sat close together with their surviving son Owen, 17, under large umbrellas throughout the 45-minute proceedings in Croxteth Park.

At one stage, the family lit a candle in their son’s memory, before a reading by the Reverend David Leslie, vicar of the local St Cuthbert’s church.

Among the speakers who paid moving tribute to Everton FC fan Rhys were his nine-year-old friend Lewis Ainscough who, wearing a Liverpool FC strip, asked the gathering “to remember all the good and happy things” about his lifelong friend.

The community event was arranged to remember the schoolboy, 11 days after he was shot dead as he walked home from playing football near his home in Croxteth Park.

It is now believed he was caught in the middle of an incident between two rival gangs.

The vigil was also a chance for community leaders to appeal for Rhys’s killer to give himself up.

Many among the crowd of around 1,000 wiped away tears as local police officer PC Robert Pritchard, known as “Robbie the Bobby” in the Croxteth patch where he has worked for a decade, took the lectern at Croxteth Hall in front of a large photograph of the murdered child.

He said that Rhys’s death was “one of the saddest moments” in an area that had known both good times and bad.

Appealing directly to the killer, he said: “How can you look at yourself in the mirror, for the rest of your life, knowing what you have done?

“Parents – you will know if your son is involved in this incident. You will know.

“Doing nothing is not an option.”

June Simm, a teacher at Fazakerley High School, where Rhys was due to start this month, said: “We struggle to understand why people must suffer in the way they do.

“Many of us have asked, why has this little boy had to suffer a violent death? Why do his parents and family have to suffer such a terrible loss as this?

“We do not have any easy answers to these questions, and yet we gather here today knowing that there are many good people in our community, and that there is much good in our world.”

Rhys’s young friend Lewis Ainscough then read a prayer, and said: “We are very sad this afternoon because someone we knew well and liked very much has died.

“We don’t often think about people dying, especially when they are very young, so this has been a great shock to us.”

The Lord Mayor of Liverpool, Cllr Paul Clark, said: “Today’s community vigil gives us all the opportunity to remember Rhys, a tremendously likeable, talented and friendly young man, whose death has devastated everyone who knew him.

‘IT GIVES us the opportunity to come together and offer our thoughts, prayers and support to Rhys’s parents, Melanie and Stephen, his brother Owen and the rest of his family and many friends.

“And it gives us the opportunity to unite as a city, and to pledge that we will all work together to make our communities safer.

“Rhys was a boy who was full of love. He loved his family, his friends and his school and he was dearly loved in return.

“The fact that he is a total innocent makes this tragedy more shocking and that causes outrage in our city.

“The love that was in Rhys’s heart should be an inspiration us all.

“I believe that love is at the heart of life in Liverpool, and we must use it to strengthen our communities, to reinforce our bonds with our neighbours and to make the safety of others our personal responsibility.

“In this way, we can continue to win the fight against the criminals and make sure Liverpool is a place where every single citizen can feel safe.”

Liverpool’s Church of England bishop, the Right Rev James Jones, gave the final blessing, jointly with Catholic Auxiliary Bishop of Liverpool, Tom Williams.

Singer Rachel Harland performed at several points in the vigil, with music including Ave Maria and The Lord Bless You and Keep You.

Among the public attending the event was Lilian Ryan, a resident of Norris Green, who said: “I thought it was very emotional and I had to come. I think it’s a tragedy this has happened and we have all got to stand together.

“It is so sad. Something has got to be done. I just hope things will change.”

Rhys’s family did not speak at the 45-minute service. But before the vigil, Rhys’s parents spoke of the strength they had drawn from the city’s support.

Mrs Jones said: “The people of Liverpool have done this city proud.

“The overwhelming support and strength of feeling is really moving for us. There are a lot of good people in Liver- pool. It’s just the minority who spoil it for the good people.”

“It’s been difficult for us to take it all in and part of us is still waiting for Rhys to come home from the match. We know there are dark days ahead.

“We’ve been catapulted into the spotlight and we want to do the right thing to help bring Rhys’s killer to justice.”

The Jones family released new pictures of Rhys this weekend, along with a Moth- er’s Day card he wrote for his mother, in an attempt to prick the conscience of his murderer.

It said: “My mum is red/ She is a comfortable cushion/ My mum is a red rose/ She is a dolphin/ And a Columbo and Judge Judy/ My mum is kind, loving and generous/ I love my mum.”

Rhys’s funeral will be held at the Anglican Cathedral on Thursday. The public are invited to wear bright colours or football strips to the service at 2pm.

vickyanderson