The murder of an 11-year-old boy in Liverpool – Murder UK 2023 Explained

A man jailed in connection with the murder of 11-year-old Rhys Jones has been recalled to prison for breaching the terms of his licence.

Rhys was mistakenly shot by a gang member in Croxteth, Liverpool on his way home from football practice in 2007.

Merseyside Police said James Yates, 31, breached his licence conditions.

Yates was jailed for supplying the gun 16-year-old Sean Mercer used to shoot Rhys and possession of a firearm.

Mercer, from Croxteth, was jailed for life in 2008 after being convicted at Liverpool Crown Court of murdering Rhys.

Yates was also found guilty at the age of 20 of assisting an offender after helping Mercer evade the police for months.

The Liverpool Echo first reported that Yates, who was released in Febraury 2018, was living in Merseyside when he was recalled to prison.

This is the second time he has been returned to jail for breaching the terms of his licence.

His original jail term of seven years was increased to 12 years in October 2009 after a review

In 2013, the Rhys Jones Community Centre opened in his memory in Croxteth which his parents said was to be a “celebration of Rhys’s life”.

A spokesperson for Merseyside Police confirmed that Yates, 31 years had been recalled to prison “for breach of his licence conditions”.

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There’s a young okay how old is he please he’s 11 he’s on my football oh my God is he leaving no he’s not someone’s just said he think he’s dead when football loving reys Jones was shot as he walked home from practice by a teenage gang member the tragedy was felt across the

Country my baby was only 11 he didn’t deserve this now detectives at the heart of the case are ready to share for the first time exactly what they were up against we didn’t have a j of evidence not a j I knew we would in for the Long

Haul I’ve been given exclusive access to the police’s own secret recordings broadcast Here For the First Time long they reveal a criminal conspiracy that would take detectives mon months to expose they were out there parading around even though they were the prime suspects in the murder of an 11-year-old

Boy we’ve got the gun how do we put in somebody’s hands this is what was happening behind the headlines as police raced to catch Reese’s killer it’s just us nightmare please help us we have to get people brought to justice for them It’s a summer’s evening in Liverpool as England get ready to play Germany at Wembley 11-year-old ree Jones is running home from football practice to watch the match a few few hundred meters away Reese’s mother Mel is waiting for him there was a really loud knock at the

Door and I went to the door and it was one of rea’s coaches and he basically just said you just need to come with me this has been shot I just ran over to him and put me put my arms under his head I was just talking to him talking to him just

Saying stay with me stay with me re but there was there was no no response from him at all he was just lying there in a huge poel of blood head up at the hospital and Mel was sort outside the room and she kept on saying to me they

Can’t resuscitate him they can’t resuscitate him that same evening Reese is pronounced dead just 5 weeks before his 12th birthday detective superintendent Dave Kelly is one of merys side’s leading murder detectives I’d actually gone home and I received a phone call off a colleague to say you’ll need to come back

In DS Kelly is put in charge of what will become one of the Force’s biggest ever murder investigations came up here and there was pandemonium basically So the plan was to get as much as quickly as possible we call the gold now as she identifies as many lines of

Inquiry as many witnesses any suspects those sorts of things and it was all 100 milph basically it was just everything was going so quickly when you heard it was an 11-year-old boy yeah what was your first reaction when I first heard it I thought he was actually involved in

The gangs and I thought 11y old boy it’s seems crazy to me but when I established more facts went into it uh it was clear that he was an innocent Kid ree had been playing football when his killer fired three shots across the car park of the fur Tree Pub one blew the window out of a BMW another hit Reese in the ne he has fallen to the floor a victim of gang Warfare of which

He played no part in the moments that followed with the crime scene cordoned off police want to talk to anyone who might have seen what has happened it was a warm Summer’s evening England were playing Germany we had eyewitnesses who were were sat drinking outside the pub we more or less quickly established

That there were people on that car park who were from noris Green on their patch a rival gangal had entered onto their territory yeah and that’s somebody from croad had traveled up to the the pub and and fired the shots across the carpack this on goinging feud between

Two local gangs had already claimed several lives but never that of an innocent bystander what were you aware of when it came to gang violence in the area we knew a little cuz you used to read it in the newspapers but that’s not where we live it’s like the old part of crocword

With the gangs were from you don’t really think it’s going to spill over into your life onto your estate eyewitnesses tell police Reese was shot by a gunman on a bike who then turned and cycled away the killer turned up in clothing which was unusual for the weather he had

Dark clothing hoodie arm stuff like that and his face would have been more or less covered up therefore identification was n impossible really with eyewitnesses unable to recognize the gunman there’s pressure on police to identify the the killer from CCTV that’s a killer what did you think

At that moment when you saw that image disappointed because when we actually began to debrief the CCTV the image quality is not the best in the world it’s very very poor we were looking to to enhance that we explored lots of opportunities with various agencies companies other police

Forces but the quality of those pictures the pixels on it were quite restrictive so when we look to enhance it or blow it up you’re basically just blowing up a pixel which is blowing up a dust and basically getting nothing and that that was so frustration as Well as police are left without clear ident identification of the killer or even the bike he was riding finding forensic evidence from the murder scene becomes vital inch by inch meter by meter the search of the crime scene Continues there were three shots fired at the scene which you could establish from them witness statements yeah would you have expected to find three bullets not necessarily three but certainly the bullet to hit Reese I would have expected a fire out but we didn’t and that was despice painstaking fingertip

Searches but nothing of value from the scene really absolutely nothing at that particular time there was very little to go on so we had to look at other ways to progress the inquiry merys side police bring in their most senior officers from across the force di Jackie Guinness was in

Undercover operations when she got the call this is the first time she’s spoken about her role in the investigation detectives were drafted in from different departments it was probably unprecedented the amount of resources that were put into it I’d worked for the major instant team over

Many years and used to dealing with many deaths and many murders but this was just something that M police had never encountered before it just touched everyone it was it was Dreadful Dreadful as early lines of inquiry come to nothing Reese’s murder becomes national news the killing of such a

Young child has attracted huge attention merys side police are under pressure to solve this murder head of intelligence from special Branch Brian mcneel is brought in to help run on the operation we had a Home Secretary interest on the night as to what had happened and how was the

Investigation going and by the Saturday that was a prime minister level prime minister contacted the chief Constable at the time to establish what had happened and where we be going with the investigation the whole country was wrapped up in this murder did you feel Under Pressure to bring charges quickly

From day one basically people were expecting the case to be solved quickly and I knew we didn’t have a j of evidence 24 hours in there’s nothing meaningful from forensics CCTV or eyewitnesses police are left with little choice but to ask Reese’s parents to make an appeal hoping someone will turn

The killer in someone knows who’s doing it and I know people must be frightened but they’ve got to think that they can’t leave this killer out there if he’s not CA it’ll happen again my baby was only 11 he didn’t deserve this we could understand the necessity of

It to try and prick the conscience of the of the parents in order for them to come forward because they needed the information and the sooner they get that information that the further on the investigation gets uh but obviously you know that that that didn’t work you’ve obviously got two gangs and one

Thing they don’t do is grass on each other they don’t tell on each other even if they’re being shot up they just will not give information to the police why not gang culture isn’t it just the nature of the game and that’s the way they were police believe the wider CI

Community does have information but maybe too scared to come forward so they set up an Anonymous hotline as with many gun crimes police here are convinced that the key to solving this lies with people nearby they’re challenging the community to help find Reese’s killer how many people got in touch

Within the first 24 hours hundreds hundreds mhm there were lots of names coming in but there was one name in particular particular the came in you are continuously hearing one name yes This tell me about Ree and your memories of him re was just a very happy outo little boy he he just loved his football loved being with his friends he absolutely loved going to Breakfast Club cuz he knew once he had something to eat he could all play

Football if he wasn’t playing it he was playing on the Xbox or watching on the Telly just never knew anyone like it just lived and breathed it he’s just a happy just like a normal 11y old really you know you’re an experienced Detective but it’s extremely unusual because it’s an 11-year-old child

Yeah but you’ve got to try and put those things to one side and do your best when I met melon Steve the world are being wrecked and I knew then more than any other sound that that case was massive massive because we had to get people brought to justice for

Them this is a huge operation to catch the killer of a little boy as a search for evidence goes on no one has yet been charged with Reese Jones’s murder two days into the investigation and police have set up an Anonymous hotline to break through the gang’s Code of

Silence there were a lots of names coming in but there was one name in particular that came in what was the name John Mercy tip offs have given police a prime suspect callers are naming 16-year-old Shawn Mercer as the gunman and that’s when we decided to make arrests because it was still

Relatively close to the actual event we were looking to get evidence back Shawn Mercer and eight other suspects are arrested on suspicion of murder and brought in for Questioning what did you know about him at that stage M didn’t have a great criminal record but he’d been stopped lots and lots of times by the police stopped for what reason the local officers would have known him as part of this local gang and up and coming young

Scag basically he was only Young it because of his age Mercer is accompanied by his mom in custody he gives police a statement that at the time of ree’s murder he was at a friend’s house we stayed smoking in the garden there was a lot of police activity in the

Area I then walked down at about 9:30 p.m. he mom was in the garden when I got home I went to beds about 10:30 p.m. I slept for the next morning basically that that gave his movements for the day as he said we were playing on games and stayed there till sometime

After 8:00 something like that so basically say stating they weren’t involved in the offense I don’t know the dead boy ree Jones I’ve since seen his picture in the paper and on the news I’ve never seen him before with Shawn Mercer denying any involvement police search all the named

Suspects houses we had to strike while that I was hot we had to gather physical evidence you know we had a gun out there that we needed to locate phones clothing that we needed to recover in order to do all the forensic inquiries it would shed

Some light on what what had happened the searches reveal nothing but even as they release the nine suspects detectives have set in motion an audacious plan to uncover the truth we had to arrest them because that was an opportunity for us to get in a probe a bug bug basically

Into what we thought would be the key Dresses this is the first time these secret police tapes have ever been broadcast they offer a unique insight into how carefully placed listening devices which need special approval can uncover crucial evidence and change the course of an investigation the probes are now recording around the clock and monitored

Nonstop it’s not long before talk turns to the night of the murder then the gang member suspected of supplying the gun talks about whether the Killer will inform on him what do you think that tells you about the gang well that was quite key information but it just shows you this little gang

They’ve got confidence on each other they trust each other nobody else snitch on each other um and that was one of the hardest things for us to overcome but when he’s saying these things he doesn’t know that we actually Recording but the secret surveillance tapes are hard to hear and detectives bring in expert help some of the speech was in fact very very quiet and because they’re in domestic premises there are always problems with appliances with with with broadcast noise with people talking simultaneously and so on it it

Was a very very time consuming case literally hundreds of hours of time went in and we were working on the same audio day in day out meticulously working through it once carefully deciphered the recordings reveal a tight-knit network around the suspects that will do anything to protect its own

The suspect’s parents are heard trying to burn a SIM card belonging to their Son she says I know I’ll turn it around now it’s not the whole thing getting burned they’re destroying evidence yep yeah potential evidence and just shows you the type of people they are and what the you know the messes they’ll go to to protect their some these recordings are providing

Police with a trove of intelligence but there’s a risk that none of it will stand up in court the important thing to remember is at that time we didn’t know 100% whether that would be admissible in court it could have been deemed as he say if we’re saying that’s a conversation from

James well how do we know it’s James how can you prove listening to that say that’s James so I Leed with hel Ms from the crown prosecution service sometimes if I got ahead of myself she bring me back into cheze and and likewise she was a good sounding board Helen she kept me

In me place Dave is a force to be reckoned with um I don’t know that I kept him in check I think we work very well together the CPS and mercys side police now work together hoping that between them they can make the precarious evidence hold up in

Court we both knew that it didn’t serve anybody’s purpose to charge too early before we had the evidence that we needed to secure a conviction and we needed time to build a strong case the probes keep recording and 5 days into the covert operation police get their

First concrete lead in the minutes after Reese was shot Prime Suspect Shawn Mercer was on the Move gave us the information that after the murder of ree uh Mercer had ridden on his bike to the home address of boam boam is a 15-year-old whose identity cannot be revealed for fear of

Recrimination recordings revealed that it was at his house that Mercer met up with his gang boyam lived with his mom and I personally dealt with both his mom and his grandmother I interviewed both of them and took statements from both of them they were crucial witnesses as boy

M’s family is brought in for questioning police ask Reese’s parents to make another appeal hoping it will bring them one step closer to nailing the Killer their parents had any thought about our pain and what we’ve lost they T in their son or their sister or their Auntie or

Someone must know who it is or they must suspect who it is they should te them in please come forward please do you think that it’s they touched people in the community and and that encouraged people to be open you couldn’t fail but to look at Mel and Steve on TV

Anding God the feel for those people really do the emotion that that flooded out of them I don’t think any decent normal person could ignore that and I think that that sort of appeal had an impact upon Bo’s grandmom and Mom and that’s why they gave the evidence

They did despite the risk of reprisals boym’s mother and grandmother break the Code of Silence their testimony reveals Shawn Mercer has lied to police about where he was the night of the murder they had put merer their house not long after the offense on a bike red

Faced wearing dark clothing so that was quite significant but as these secret recordings reveal behind closed doors boyam is so fearful of the consequences he pressurizes his mother and grandmother to change their [Applause] Stories the way that some of these people conducted themselves the way they spoke to each other painted a picture the covert recordings have changed the case and given police intelligence they badly needed when we got the probe in there was a period where we were getting quite a lot of information but that

Slowly P us off because it’s done and dusted for them moving on so you got less and less as time when WR it’s 5 weeks into the investigation and information from the recordings begins to dry up then an intelligence Source provides a potentially huge lead so I received intelligence about where the

Firearm is caused the search warrant to be executed and we recovered a World War I revolver and the other one was a imitation semi-automatic pistol police intelligence had led detectives to the house of another Young teenager he’s named boy x as his identity cannot be revealed the family aren’t known to the

Police and are shocked to find the search team in their home at the time the female occupant she was out um returning to the house to find you know a a a home filled with police officers and search teams she was clearly distraught distra the fact that we were

There and the fact that we’ found what we’ found in her Loft it was Dreadful she knew nothing about it no and she clearly knew nothing about it you know you get a feeling for for people that we speak to what did you think he might be

Guilty of responsible for at that stage we weren’t sure um exactly um was he you know maybe involved in a in a larger conspiracy was he assisting sha Mercer so assisting an offender um was he the gunman we had no intelligence to support that but he clearly was in involved

Somehow and that’s what we needed to get to the bottom of if police can link boy x and the gun to the murder they could crack the case this weapon that you found at boy X’s house it must have felt like a critical breakthrough it was but

There was still some way to go a long way to go because we’ve got the gun how do we put in somebody’s Hands I just wanted to quiet little funeral the church I is school and then the family L on officers that’s not going to happen you know crowds needs to be managed and I’m thinking crowds what crowds This was meant to be a celebration of a young life and it was

In that spirit that the crowds outside living Cathedral greeted the arrival of the hearse you don’t realize that there’s a big outpouring going on in the city because we’re just so wrapped up in our own grief inside the cathedral there thousands of people these have all come out for my little boy [Applause]

Just with the city of Liverpool United uned in grief pressure to solve the case is greater than ever 5 weeks into the investigation and intelligence has led police to a gun you have the weapon involved in the crime we hope we do yeah we hope we do

We’ve recovered a firearm from The Loft and that had to be frantically examined a very lengthy process and we had to wait for that confirmation and that took an awful long time but when the first forensic results come back there’s a shock for the team bullets fired from

This weapon would not have led to the injuries that were present on Reese potentially this was not the murder weapon were you frustrated when you realized that this was different from what was believed to be involved I wouldn’t say frustrated probably angry so I said to the forensic experts you go

Back and you look at everything again and then you you come back and see me next week why were you so confident that this was the weapon when you’d already been told it couldn’t have been a gun like this no it’s too coincidental too coincidental and that was just my strong

Belief and I just said to him I’m I’m telling you that’s the weapon you go away and look at all the facts and come back to me the gun is sent off for further tests and now attention turns to the teenager living at the house where it was being

Hidden when you first met him how did he strike you when I first literally clapped eyes on him um he looked like a um frightened naive young boy as his identity is a secret he’s known in the case as boy x di Jackie Guinness is put in charge of his interviews

Did you think he was involved with the gang it was apparent even during those early weeks that he wasn’t Shawn Mercer and the likes of Shawn Mercer he was a vulnerable juvenile that’s my opinion um who was caught up in you know this horrendous murder results come back from the latest

Tests on the gun this time ballistics experts have used ammunition that was also found stashed in The Loft ammunition that’s the wrong size for this type of handgun what that meant was when those bullets were fired from that gun instead of traveling in a straight line rifl in

As normal it would immediately start to Tumble the bullet so it would travel this way rather than in a straight line and once that was test fired into the compound that is used in forensic Laboratories that gave the same injury that was present on ree but at the back in ree’s

Shoulder so despite his earlier judgment the ballistics expert agreed with you in the end y it’s always categorically 100% the weapon now that the forensic picture is emerging detectives need boy x to talk will he join the dots from the murder weapon to Shawn Mercer when we we

Interviewed him it was obvious that because of his background cuz he had no no criminal record they targeted him because they knew his house if we were going to search any would be the last house we’d look at I thought they were trying to use me

Cuz I’ve never been in trouble with the police Sean told me the address I didn’t know whose house it was I just asked the taxi driver to take me to the address and when we pulled up outside I got a phone call boy x is ordered really to pick up

Something doesn’t know what it is but he know show meres rang me he’s a member of the Croy crew I’ll have to go it was the intimidation it it it it was the way Shawn Mercer did his business we talk these days massively um in M side policeing across the country

About exploitation criminal exploitation and clearly boy x was massively exploited he was vulnerable you know he was picked on as a safe Pair of Hands boy x was called to the safe house where Mercer and his crew gathered after the shooting police already know from the bugs this was Boy M’s house boy M popped his head out the door and a went in he was already running up the stairs when I

Went in and closed the door I just followed him up when he went up the stairs boy M went into one of the the rear back bedrooms and within seconds a mail came out of that bedroom and was stood at the top of the stairs on the

Landing and this male gave him an article an item he initially said he didn’t know who it was he gave me a bag I was thinking what is it and I was scared to say no he was in a rush to give it to me I didn’t know

It was a gun at first it was like the SAA piece of A4 paper it was quite heavy as I went downstairs he said don’t say nothing to no one that male eventually turns out to be sha Mercer and when you heard the name sha Mercer what did you think I was

Probably smiling inside I know that’s a weird thing to say but we’ve got sea Mercer now within an hour of that shooting our main WI witness had receipt of that that gun that must have felt like the critical piece of the puzzle it was massive it was a milestone detectives have finally

Discovered the weak Link in the gang’s cover up boy x can confirm sha Mercer was in possession of the murder weapon on the night Reese was killed I was just scared to say no he might have done that to that little kid so what might he do

To me he’s not not going to think twice knowing how dangerous it will be for him to swear to this in court investigators taken unprecedented step I was confident that he was telling me the truth it didn’t seem that he was capable of thinking up a very elaborate tissue of

Lies and so it was a question of whether we gave him immunity and used him as a witness offering immunity in exchange for a child’s evidence has never happened in this country and there’s no guarantee it’ll be granted I had to go to the chief Crown prosecutor you had to approve an

Application to the attorney general in London and the Attorney General had to give consent and that doesn’t happen overnight it takes time months pass as the team wait for a decision Shawn M’s name is now widely connected with the murder as he’s seen out in the streets seeming confident

That he won’t be caught the pressure on investigators is unrelenting they were out there in their hoods on their bikes with their dogs parading around and even though they were the prime suspects in the murder of an 11-year-old boy they were still out there and proud he was certainly behaving as if he

Was confident that he had got away with it that was very very difficult if we’d given into that pressure and we’d charged before before we had enough evidence and he hadn’t been convicted because we didn’t have enough evidence nobody benefits from that the local community doesn’t benefit Reese’s family wouldn’t have

Benefited it’s now six months into the investigation and boy x has still not been granted immunity without him the case could fall apart so the search for evidence placing merer at the murder scene goes on we could never identify 100% the B because of the quality of the

CCTV we went to hundreds of bike shops you name it I used to dream bikes see someone on the bike lived it once again boy x reveals critical information when we we interviewed the boy this lad said to us sh mer said had a bike stolen that year and he got

Another one delivered that bike was a specialized Hard Rock mountain bike we establish that the act the bike was actually quite unique only three had been bought in the UK in 2007 one of them had been bought for sha Mercer in cro so I released a a photo of of a

Specialized Hard Rock mountain bike in the media and sure enough a guy is at home he goes that’s in my shed he remembered that he’d found the frame of a bike that to the description that we publicized only within just 24 hours of the murder res saw on the Thursday evening and from

There what we do is obviously submit that for forensic examination the critical elements of the investigation and the prosecution was the fact that when that came back we had sha M’s DNA on one of the uh the break bars on the bike itself the bike is one of the main

Issues in the case and to tie Mercer to it in that way was absolutely critical finding merca’s DNA is a breakthrough finally forensic proof he was at the crime scene then news comes in that the attorney general has taken the landmark decision to Grant boy x the full

Protection of the law if he stands up in court meant him and his immediate family uh moving away from their home in COC it was massive upheaval and then the implications for him um over the following years if not for the rest of his life massive what he and his family went

Through must have been a complete nightmare there are those within the community who would regard what he did with absolute horror and would think that he was a you know a traitor to the local community eight months after Reese’s murder police are poised to charge Mercer and his associates

Cerff early this morning a 100 officers swoop on 10 addresses is this finally the Breakthrough detectives have been working towards after 8 months comes the Breakthrough his family have longed for one youth has been charged with the murder of Reese Jones on the 22nd of August 2007 melan Steve finally learned

The name of the teenager accused of their son’s murder Shawn Mercer had a thought i’ had had some sort of reaction or felt something and it just meant nothing to me and it had no impact on me at all it could have been any strange did Dave tell you very much

About him I think he told us how young he was didn’t he yeah he told us how young he was 16 years old and what did you think shocked 16 it’s just kids killing kids isn’t it Just over a year after Reese was killed and after thousands of hours of detective work Shawn Mercer stood trial for murder with him six other defendants all charged with offenses relating to Reese’s death you saw Shawn Mercer in court what was your reaction we just thought he just like

Like a a little kid a little he had a baby face didn’t a little baby face kid Mercer and other defendants were accompanied to court by their parents where they came face to face with Mel and Steve it’s actually when we were in court they were looking at us as if to

Say what are we doing here why have you brought us here they were looking at us and us oh Jesus it’s as if it was our fault that they were there all the defendants including Mercer pleaded not Guilty against them a case police had spent months meticulously assembling evidence included the covert audio recordings boy X’s crucial witness testimony the murder weapon found at Box’s house and critically the bike identical to the the one seen on CCTV with MC’s DNA on it by putting all that together you’re able very painstakingly

To construct a picture of what actually happened you don’t necessarily have every single piece in the jigsaw you have gaps but nevertheless looking at the jigsaw as a whole you can see what it’s meant to represent over eight months of painstaking investigation the team had finally established what happened

On the night of the murder 16-year-old Shawn Mercer was called by an older member of the croi crew who knew he was desperate to prove himself he was given a gun and told rival gang members were nearby Mercer cycled to the car park shot at and missed the intended target

But killed reys with his second bullet he then fired once more and rodee Away along with several accomplices he did everything he could to cover up the crime the trial was a really humbling experience because obviously there had been quite a lot of comment about how

Long it had been since the killing to the arrests and when we sat in court and listened to the evidence it was evident just how much investigative work had gone on just how careful the police had been how determined they’d been to try and make sure they brought all these

People to Justice once in court the gang made made a lasting impression the behavior throughout the the trial is Despicable uh there were shouting to each other telling jokes laughing paper airplanes you name it and with total disregard to the process with total disregard to melon theve just didn’t

Care they were arrogant they were cocky they believed that they were Above the Law there was just such utter attempts after nearly 3 months in court the jury reached a unanimous verdict the first one was the verdict on Sha Mercer that was all I heard I just heard

Sha merer guilty and I just totally broke down didn’t I did he had to put his arm around because I was s not the Final Chapter they said of today’s verdicts but a chance to rebuild their lives finally justice has been done for Reese over the months we have

Found strength in the messages of support from many thousands of strangers as she turned to leave Mrs Jones’s mouth just one word thank you the sentences totaled 49 years but police were still pursuing the family members at the heart of the cover up and 4 months later Shawn M’s mother Janette

Pleaded guilty to perverting the course of Justice she knew what done and she was covering it up and she just lied and lied and lied again to the police and for Dave Kelly to get here convicted really made my day 11y old boy shot in the neck on a way home from from

Footy practice they prepared to protect their son over him it’s just beg belief beg belief it’s not just sha Mesa if he didn’t have all them people around him all covering up for him giving them false Al and you know he’d have been c a lot sooner so

The old he say what they got we convicted seven people and then people thereafter who were trying to hide their tracks a sense I was an important message to people in the community that you give us information we lack upon it a child was murdered but it was your

Police work and that of your team yeah that discovered who did it yes do you feel proud of the work that you did very proud and not just me the whole team everybody took it personally um and wanted to do the right thing and we

Did at the end of the day I can look melon Steve in the eye and said you know I’ve done what I promised to do Mercer received a minimum 22 years in prison he’s the only person still behind bars for Reese’s murder M yeah gets 22 years

Which at the time we were we were happy with that tariff but you know we live that life sentence now you know doesn’t there’s no end the sentence for us just isn’t we’re the ones that suffer our families still suffer and we will do for the rest of

Our lives from the pain of losing R