Bike found under a bush was Rhys Jones killer’s getaway transport, court told

Oct 30 2008 by Chloe Griffiths, Liverpool Daily Post

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THE bike at the centre of the Rhys Jones murder inquiry was found dumped under a bush by the side of a road, the court was told.

The prosecution claim Sean Mercer was straddling a silver Specialized Hardrock mountain bike when he allegedly shot the 11-year-old schoolboy dead.

He then sped off away from the scene on the bike, it has been claimed.

Yesterday, Liverpool Crown Court heard an identical bike was found pushed under a bush on a Merseyside business park the day after Rhys was shot.

It was found by Leslie Shimmin, who had gone for a ride around Kirkby industrial estate with family and friends on the evening of Thursday, August 23, last year.

The court heard they rode along Arbour Lane, past Liverpool FC’s academy, and stopped at a skip to rummage for new bike parts.

A few feet away, one of the group noticed part of a bike frame sticking out from under a bush.

They took it home and the court heard the bike spent months in the back garden and then the shed until, in February, police made an appeal on the six-month anniversary of Rhys’s murder.

Mercer denies being the gunman who killed Rhys and says his bike went missing in the days before, although a search of police records shows no report to that extent ever being filed, the jury has heard.

The case continues.