The name of the “prime suspect” was splashed in graffiti on the walls of derelict buildings, posted on YouTube and came up whenever people gathered for a chat in Croxteth, east Liverpool.

It is eight months since Rhys Jones, 11, was shot dead outside the Fir Tree pub as he walked home from football practice, and residents had complained about the apparent inaction of Merseyside Police.

At 6am yesterday the force made its move. Armed officers kicked down the front door of a semi-detached house on the edge of the rundown Croxteth estate and arrested a 17-year-old youth. Last night he was being questioned about the murder. He has been arrested twice before: for alleged murder and alleged firearms offences.

Similar dawn raids were carried out at nine other addresses in Croxteth. More than 100 officers were involved and 12 people were arrested, including the main suspect. Three males aged 16, 24 and 25 were being held on suspicion of murder.

Television satellite vans were back outside the Fir Tree pub, which is now empty and boarded up. The nearby newsagent still carries a poster urging “in Rhys’s name, get guns off our streets”, but dog walkers have reclaimed the park that was once the preserve of forensic science officers searching for clues.

In the early evening of Wednesday, August 22, Rhys, an Everton fan, was killed as he walked across the pub’s forecourt with two friends. The hooded gunman – allegedly a member of the Croxteth Crew gang – was reported to have emerged from the side of the pub on a mountain bike and fired three shots. He was said to have been firing at three members of the Nogzy Dogs gang, who had strayed on to rival turf. Officers believed that the killer could have been carrying out the shooting as “initiation” to the gang.

A bullet passed through a car window, ricocheting off its path and going through Rhys’s neck. The killer was filmed on closed-circuit television fleeing the scene.

In the weeks after the shooting, the name of the “prime suspect” became common knowledge in the area. The home that he shared with his mother, sister and younger brother was raided by the drug squad the day before Jacqui Smith, the Home Secretary, visited Merseyside in January.

Detective Superintendent David Kelly, leading the investigation, had said in private that it would take months of detective work to piece together the scientific evidence needed to place each gang member in the Crew’s chain of command in the dock.

In February, Merseyside Police announced that officers had seized a black, long-barrelled handgun in a raid on a council house.

A second emotional appeal was made on Crimewatch UK. Melanie Jones, Rhys’s mother, urged the killer’s mother to search her conscience and hand over her son to police. She and her husband Stephen, both super-market workers, said: “The last six months have been a living nightmare. All we want is justice for our son.”

It is understood that senior officers recently put together all the evidence they had gathered and two weeks ago a dossier on each suspect was handed to the Crown Prosecution Service, whose lawyers sanctioned yesterday’s raids. Senior officers visited Rhys’s parents at their home about half a mile from the murder scene to inform them that arrests were imminent.

Patricia Gallan, the assistant chief constable, led the early morning briefing. The first outward sign of the ensuing drama was when a police convoy blocked off streets around the 17-year-old suspect’s cul-de-sac. Once officers were in place outside the other properties, they were given the go-ahead and forced their way through front doors.

The 12 arrested were questioned at different police stations. A 16-year-old was arrested on suspicion of assisting an offender, attempting to pervert the course of justice and possessing a firearm and ammunition. A man aged 49 and a boy aged 15 were arrested on suspicion of assisting an offender and attempting to pervert the course of justice. Women aged 50, 54 and 21, and a man aged 22 were arrested on suspicion of attempting to pervert the course of justice. A 17-year-old was arrested for assisting an offender.

Forensic science officers spent much of the day at the main suspect’s house. At a terraced house nearby where the front door was missing, a woman screamed “You’ve got the wrong house”, and denied that her teenage son had been led away in handcuffs.

More arrests are likely to be made. Bernard Hogan-Howe, the Chief Constable, said: “A lot of painstaking work has gone into the investigation. Rhys’s parents, Melanie and Stephen, have been very supportive throughout and we are grateful for their ongoing confidence in the investigation.”

How the case unfolded

August 22, 2007 Rhys Jones shot dead in car park of Fir Tree pub
August 23 Merseyside Police arrest two teenagers, aged 14 and 18, on suspicion of murder
August 24 Third teenager arrested
August 25 Police appeal to fans at Everton FC for information; six teenagers, two of them girls, arrested
August 31 Four arrested aged 16, 17, 20 and 24
August 28 At Champions League match Liverpool fans pay tribute to Rhys, an Everton fan
August 30 Police begin investigating key members of Croxteth Crew and link shooting to rivalry with Strand gang
September 4 Youth, 16, held, suspected of murder
September 6 2,000 at Rhys’s funeral in Liverpool Anglican Cathedral
September 26 Police release CCTV footage of suspect fleeing scene
September 29 Graffiti naming suspect removed
October 30 A YouTube posting claims to name the killer. Later removed
November 7 Merseyside Chief Constable says the killer is known to police
November 20 Youth, 16, rearrested on suspicion of firearms offences
January 31, 2008 Youth, 17, identified as the prime suspect arrested
February 21 Police say they have found the gun they believe was used
April 15 Nine men, three women arrested

Source: Times archives, agencies

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