A WOMAN has told of the moment she found out her younger brother was harbouring the gun allegedly used to kill Rhys Jones.
The woman, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, was visibly shaking as she tearfully recounted what happened on a family holiday to the USA at Liverpool Crown Court yesterday.
The witness was the older sister of the key prosecution witness, Boy C. It is said he was given a gun by Rhys’s alleged killer, Sean Mercer, and told to hide it.
The court heard police raided the boy’s Croxteth home on September 30 last year and discovered the alleged murder weapon, a Smith and Wesson revolver, hidden in the loft, wrapped in a red and white plastic carrier bag.
Alongside it was a blue plastic bag carrying a converted imitation Walther PPK pistol and ammunition, the jury was told.
While officers were searching his home, the teenager was at SeaWorld, in Florida, where he was taken on holiday along with his older brother by his sister and her husband.
His sister told the court: “We had just finished watching a show. [Boy C] had been on the phone through the show and he said he had had a phone call and a text message to say my mum’s house had been raided.
“He just looked shocked. I was thinking it was just a big mistake. I just had to ring back home and find out what was wrong.”
She added: “After the show finished, I turned round and [Boy C] was a bit white and his eyes were glossy.
“I was told [later] by [Boy C] that the police had found a gun. He was outside the villa and he came in and said they had found two guns or a gun and bullets. I can’t remember what he said.
“He was just shaking. I was saying ‘what do you mean?’ He was just shaking and saying ‘I’m sorry, I’m sorry’.
“I was just shaking and panicking. I said to my sister ‘is it to do with Rhys?’ and she said ‘yeah’.
“I saw his reaction. I knew he knew something about it.
“I was just crying and saying ‘whatever you tell me, I don’t want to know because I would be telling the police anything you tell me’.
“He said ‘I’m not gonna tell you anyway because I don’t want anyone else involved’.
“I said ‘you’ve gotta go and just tell the truth’ and he said ‘I will, I know I will’.
“[Boy C] didn’t want to come home. My dad said ‘make sure you stay in a room with him so he doesn’t do anything to himself’.
“I phoned the officers who were at my mum’s and said I would get a flight home early to get it sorted out. We did try and phone some companies, but we couldn’t, and the police said ‘don’t worry, just let us know when you are coming back’.
The court heard Boy C was arrested when he and his family returned home, landing at Manchester airport on October 6.
The case continues.
