THE jailed mother of Rhys Jones’s killer has run up more than £2,000 in rent arrears since being put behind bars, an eviction hearing was told.

Janette Mercer, 50, was locked up for three years in April for lying to detectives investigating the 11-year-old schoolboy’s murder.

Her son, Sean Mercer, 19, was given a life sentence after a three-month trial last year.

At Liverpool County Court, Paul Burns, prosecuting on behalf of Riverside Housing Association, told His Honour Judge Graham Platts that Janette Mercer had failed to pay rent since being put behind bars in April and had accumulated more than £2,000 in arrears.

Addressing the first day of a legal attempt to evict her from her Merseyside home, he said there was “a plethora of examples” as to why the property should be repossessed.

He outlined why the murderer’s mother should be evicted from her three-bedroom semi-detached house on Good Shepherd Close in the Croxteth area of Liverpool.

Janette Mercer did not attend court yesterday and, having sacked her legal team, is representing herself.

The hearing continues.