Merseyside Police this afternoon confirmed they had traced and spoken to a woman considered a potentially key witness in the Rhys Jones murder inquiry.

A force spokesman said that a woman seen pushing a pram near the Fir Tree pub minutes before Rhys, 11, was killed has been spoken to by detectives, but did not release details of what she had told them.

The news came as police revealed another arrest in the investigation. A 15-year-old boy was arrested shortly after midday today bringing a total of six people in custody - they are two girls aged 15 and 18 and four males aged 15, 16 and two aged 19. Another 15-year-old boy was released earlier today on police bail.

Patricia Gallan, the Merseyside Assistant Chief Constable, said that today's arrest and release of suspects were part of “a dynamic and fast-moving investigation”.

Later today police are set to hand out leaflets at the Tesco store where Rhys’s mother, Melanie, 41, works in Liverpool.

Meanwhile, Rhys was remembered at church services across the city, including the Anglican cathedral.

“It challenges us all in our faith,” Canon Anthony Hawley, Acting Dean of Liverpool Cathedral, told Sky News.“These tragedies do occur from time to time and certainly in Liverpool we are not unfamiliar with them.

“It is a challenge to people of all faiths to ask ’just who is my neighbour and where I stand in the community in which I live?’.”

As police renewed appeals for help in finding Rhys’s killer, Jacqui Smith, the Home Secretary. announced plans to try to get more guns off the streets.

She said “drop-off zones” could be set up to allow people to hand in weapons. “Sometimes people ask friends or other members of their family to look after their guns,” she said. “They know it is wrong and they want to find a way to get that gun off their family member.”

Yesterday, police expressed concern at the lack of evidence from the public and urged people to“stand up and be counted”.

Chief Superintendent Chris Armitt of Merseyside Police said that he would protect people scared of reprisals from local gangs if they came forward. “We understand that people are frightened, but people have got to stand up and be counted,” he told reporters.“We have not had the level of information about those key issues that we would expect and that we want.

“We understand those concerns and I’m trying to offer reassurance that we will do something about protecting people.”

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