Police get more time to question Rhys murder suspects

Police in England have been given another 12 hours to question a dozen suspects over the murder of schoolboy Rhys Jones.

Merseyside officers have until 7pm to question nine men and three women over a variety of alleged offences.

Police were initially given 24 hours to quiz the suspects after dawn raids yesterday morning.

Football-mad Rhys, 11, was shot dead on August 22 last year as he walked home from training.

Yesterday, nearly eight months since the youngster’s killing, two boys aged 16 and 17, and two men aged 24 and 25 were arrested on suspicion of murder.

A 16-year-old boy was arrested on suspicion of assisting an offender, attempting to pervert the course of justice and possession of a firearm and ammunition.

A 49-year-old man and a 15-year-old boy were arrested on suspicion of assisting an offender and attempting to pervert the course of justice.

Also, a 17-year-old boy was being questioned for assisting an offender.

Three women, aged 50, 54 and 21, and a 22-year-old man, were arrested on suspicion of attempting to pervert the course of justice.

Rhys was shot through the neck by a gunman on a bicycle on the car park of the Fir Tree pub in Croxteth Park – one of Europe’s biggest estates.

His mother Melanie, 42, was rushed to the scene by a family friend and cradled him as he died.

Detectives believe Rhys innocently walked into an ambush as a member of one Liverpool gang aimed at a rival gang member.

Despite a BBC 'Crimewatch' reconstruction and more than 30 arrests no-one has been charged over the boy’s death.

Today, Bernard Hogan-Howe, Merseyside’s Chief Constable, paid tribute to Mrs Jones and her husband Stephen, 45.

He said: “A lot of painstaking work has gone into this investigation which continues.

“The public and Rhys’s parents, Melanie and Stephen, have been very supportive throughout and we are grateful for their ongoing confidence in the investigation.”