RHYS Jones’s alleged killer was doused in petrol at a remote Merseyside industrial unit to get rid of gunshot residue on his body, the murder trial jury was told.

It was claimed Sean Mercer was driven to a Kirkby business premises by his gang just hours after the 11-year-old’s murder.

The prosecution allege the 18-year-old was picked up in a people carrier which arrived at an address in Croxteth where they had met after the killing.

Neil Flewitt, prosecuting, said Mercer was driven by defendant Melvin Coy to his industrial premises on the Acorn Business Centre in Kirkby.

Here, it is alleged that Coy, Kays, Yates and Boy Q helped to dispose of any evidence linking him to the killing.

The prosecution say Mercer’s clothes were destroyed and he was “cleaned” with petrol to ensure any gunshot residue was removed.

On September 11, last year, a search warrant was executed at Melvin Coy’s business premises and three empty petrol cans were recovered.

CCTV footage, the court heard, shows the Ford Galaxy people carrier in the area at the alleged time and use of the defendants’ mobile phones in that part of Kirkby.

Defendants Coy, Kays, Yates and Boy Q deny destroying the clothes or covering Mercer in petrol.

Yates and Boy Q maintain they never went to Kirkby.

Coy and Kays accept they may have gone to Kirkby, but say they visited the unit to obtain car parts, although Kays had initially told police he had been at Coy’s home all night.

Mr Flewitt said: “When police pointed out evidence his mobile phone had been in Kirkby that evening, he replied: “Yeah, yeah, I know where we was, we were in his yard.”

“I can’t believe I’ve forgot. We were in his dad’s yard”.

Turning to another of the defendants, Boy M, 16, Mr Flewitt revealed he told police his grandmother had answered the door to Sean Mercer just after Rhys’s murder.

Mr Flewitt said: “Boy M told police that his grandmother answered the door to Sean Mercer who said that he had just shot someone and that a kid had gone down.

“Sean Mercer rang James Yates and asked him to come round and he then rang Gary Kays.”

Boy M’s grandmother and mother are due to give evidence for the prosecution during this trial.

The jury was told there was a flurry of phone calls within half an hour of the murder which brought Coy and Kays, among others, to the teenage defendant’s home.

Mr Flewitt said: “Boy M’s mother and grandmother both recall that Sean Mercer had a bicycle with him when he arrived at their house and that, when James Yates and Boy Q arrived at the house, they too were in possession of a bike that, we suggest, belonged to Boy Q.”

The prosecution allege that the group quickly left the address in Croxteth to provide transport for Mercer ‘who was anxious to get away from the house as quickly as possible.’

Mr Flewitt said that Boy M admitted to police in interview that he had disposed of a hat and gloves that had been left with him by Sean Mercer.

The jury was told he had also assisted in the operation of getting rid of the murder weapon and arranged for the bike to be removed, but under duress.

Five of the defendants were arrested in the days and weeks immediately after Rhys’s murder.

Kay was first arrested in April. Coy, like Kays, was arrested and interviewed first time in April and said he was probably at home at the time of the murder and didn’t see Sean Mercer or James Yates that night.

When shown CCTV of the Ford Galaxy in Kirkby, he said that he may have gone up to the unit for car parts.

Mr Flewitt today took the jury through each of the defendants’ police interviews.

Sean Mercer was arrested on August 25 and interviewed in the presence of his solicitor and mother.

He provided police with a prepared statement through his solicitor in which he claimed he had an alibi for the time of the murder.

Mercer told police he was at the home of Boy K and then refused to answer any questions put to him.

He was again arrested on April 15, but again refused to answer any questions.

Coy, like Kays, was arrested and interviewed first time in April and said he was probably at home at the time of the murder and didn’t see Sean Mercer or James Yates that night.

When shown CCTV of the Ford Galaxy in Kirkby, he said that he may have gone up to the unit for car parts.