Rhys Jones: Teen arrested, gun 'found'

Oct 9 2007

A BOY suspected of harbouring the gun that killed 11-year-old Rhys Jones was arrested as he flew back to the UK.

The 16-year-old was picked up as he stepped off a plane at Manchester airport on Saturday after a family holiday.

Detectives investigating Rhys’s murder were waiting for the teenager, believed to be returning from a holiday in America.

Officers searched his house in Norris Green while he was abroad.

They have recovered two guns, one of which they believe may have been used to shoot Rhys, and they are being examined.

The boy was arrested on suspicion of possessing a firearm and freed on police bail.

The boy is the 18th person to be arrested following Rhys’ death.

Police confirmed the youngster had not been arrested previously by detectives investigating the case and stressed he was not questioned on suspicion of murder.

A spokesman said: “We have arrested a 16-year-old boy on suspicion of possessing a firearm. He has been questioned by detectives at a police station on Merseyside.”

Rhys was hit by a bullet outside the Fir Tree Pub on August 22 by a teenage gunman riding a mountain bike.

He was returning home from football practice in Croxteth Park when he was fatally shot.

His mother Melanie held him as paramedics battled to save his life.

Despite repeated appeals from detectives for witnesses to come forward nobody has been charged with his murder.

Police believe he was the innocent victim of a gangland feud and there was another intended target.

A gang source told the ECHO: “The gun will have been kept at one particular address and not moved around like some people have suggested.

“It would have been kept close to someone’s house or inside the house.”

Detectives were given information about the possible whereabouts of the weapon in a recent BBC Crimewatch appeal.