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Mr Jones said: “Our other son, Owen, has his own group of friends and Rhys was only 11. His life revolved around football. The gang thing just didn’t touch us.”
Remembering Everton-mad Rhys, he added: “Sometimes when we were at a match I used to hold Rhys’s hand because he was so small. The first couple of times I went after Rhys had been killed, I’d still instinctively put out my hand only to find there was nothing there.”
Mrs Jones revealed the family had received thousands of messages of support, including a hand-written letter from Kate and Gerry McCann and another from Wayne and Coleen Rooney.
The Joneses intend to rebuild their lives elsewhere, making life “as normal as possible” for their son Owen, 18, who has just started university.
Rhys was killed in August, 2007, when Mercer, a member of the Croxteth Crew gang, fired three shots across the car park outside the Fir Tree pub in an attempt to hit rival Strand Gang members.
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