She said: “We were a four-piece jigsaw and suddenly we were a piece short. And it’s never going to be the same.”

Soon after the killing, rumours spread through Liverpool naming Mercer as the murderer but Rhys’ parents insisted they did not want to hear them.

They were only told his name on the day he was charged with their son’s murder.

On Tuesday, they fought back tears as he was jailed for a minimum of 22 years at Liverpool Crown Court.

The court had heard how Mercer, of Good Shepherd Close, Croxteth, cycled from the scene to the home of Boy M - a 16-year-old who cannot be named - and began a systematic bid to evade justice.

He enlisted the help of James Yates, 20, Nathan Quinn, 18, Dean Kelly, 17, Boy M, Melvin Coy, 25, and Gary Kays, 26.

They orchestrated a scheme to remove Mercer to Coy’s warehouse in nearby Kirkby where he was doused with petrol to remove gunshot residue.

They destroyed his clothes and hid the murder weapon at the home of Boy X - who became a prosecution witness when he accepted an offer of immunity from prosecution for giving evidence.

A jury of seven women and five men took almost four days to convict Mercer and his accomplices of assisting an offender and firearms charges.

Speaking at the end of the trial, Mr Justice Irwin praised Rhys’ parents for their dignity throughout the case.

He said: “The way they have behaved has been a standing reproach to those in the dock, and particularly to you Mercer, who killed their son.”

Kays, of Mallard Close, and father-of-one Coy, of Abbeyfield Drive, both West Derby, were both jailed for seven years for two counts of assisting an offender.

Yates, of Dodman Road, Quinn, of Wickett Close, Boy M, and Dean Kelly, of Sword Walk, Croxteth, will be sentenced on January 29.