I hate Sean Mercer, says Melanie Jones

Dec 22 2008 by Paula Owens, Liverpool Daily Post

Capital of culture opening

THE mother of murdered Rhys Jones says she will never forgive her son’s killer. The family is now planning to leave Croxteth Park, where they have lived for 18 years, saying they could never rebuild their lives in the area.

Speaking out for the first time since Sean Mercer, 18, was sentenced last Tuesday to a minimum of 22 years in prison for the killing, Melanie Jones said she hopes he is never released.

She said she was filled with hatred as she looked at Mercer when the guilty verdicts were read out at Liverpool Crown Court.

“I now realise that I hate him. I will never forgive him for destroying our family. I will hate him for the rest of my life,” she said.

She added she feels “nothing but contempt” for those who protected him. Mrs Jones said: “The families of those who committed this crime are outside our realm of understanding.

“We can’t keep making excuses that people are born into poverty. Lots of people are poor, but they don’t end up as criminals. Parents must take responsibility for their children and what they do.”

In an interview with a Sunday newspaper yesterday, she describes Mercer as having “a total lack of regard for human life”, adding he was expressionless when the verdicts were read out.

She said: “I was shaking from the inside out, aware that everyone was looking at us. Then it hit me: I hated him.”

Mrs Jones and husband Stephen, a night manager for Tesco, in Southport, both grew up in the city but say they had no experience of the gang culture of the neighbouring areas.