Mother of killer who shot 11-year-old Rhys Jones dead admits helping ANOTHER criminal son evade justice by giving him somewhere to stay after he was caught dealing drugs

• Janette Mercer was jailed for helping son evade police after killing of Rhys Jones
• The mother of three lied to police after her son Sean Mercer shot the schoolboy
• Rhys, 11, was murdered in 2007 while he walked home from football practice 
• Now Mercer has admitted helping her other son, Joseph, evade the detectives  

The mother of Rhys Jones’ killer Sean Mercer has admitted helping another of her criminal sons to evade justice.

Janette Mercer was jailed for three years in 2009 for perverting the course of justice, having lied to detectives investigating the 11-year-old schoolboy’s murder in Liverpool.

Her son, Sean Mercer, 16 at the time, shot and killed Rhys on August 22 2007 in a killing that horrified the nation.

Now 63, she has again been hauled in front of a judge after pleading guilty to assisting an offender – this time for helping her other son, drug dealer Joseph Mercer, while he was on the run from police.

Liar: Janette Mercer was jailed for three years in 2009 for perverting the course of justice after her son murdered schoolboy Rhys Jones. Now 63, she has again been hauled in front of the court after pleaded guilty to assisting an offender – this time for helping her other son Joseph who was being investigated by police over drug supply offences 

Rhys Jones, an 11-year-old Everton season ticket holder, was murdered in a tragic shooting in 2007. He is pictured wearing the uniform of his beloved football team

Innocent Rhys Jones was walking home from football practice when he was tragically caught in the crossfire of a feud between gang members from the Croxteth Crew and the rival Norris Green-based Strand Gang by the Fir Tree pub. 

Sean Mercer was later unanimously convicted of murder by a jury and jailed for life with a minimum term of 22 years. 

His mother tried to cover up a crucial piece of evidence by lying to police in a statement when they asked her about bicycles her son owned or had access to. 

He was riding a silver mountain bike when he fired the fatal shot, but Jeanette Mercer claimed he did not own such a bike – instead saying he had only a black, orange and white one.

Sean Mercer – who was 16 at the time of the shooting – was convicted of his murder and sentenced to life with a minimum term of 22 years

But it was subsequently discovered that she had taken delivery of the bike four months earlier when it was sent to the family following an insurance claim.

On the day of her sentencing, she reportedly smiled at friends and family in the public gallery as she was led to the cells by security guards.

Now 63, she was hauled back before Liverpool Crown Court on Monday, where she pleaded guilty to assisting an offender. 

The new charge relates to her another of her three sons, Joseph Mercer, whom she is believed to have helped while he was being investigated over drug supply offences.

It is claimed she assisted him in finding accommodation between December 2, 2019, and June 14, 2020, while he was on the run from police. He was wanted for possession of Class A drugs with intent to supply.

He was imprisoned for 30 months in October 2020 after being caught peddling heroin and crack cocaine from a hotel room in Bournemouth.

The then 25-year-old, of Daisy Street in Kirkdale, was locked up alongside a 29-year-old from Childwall, after both admitted possession of class A drugs with intent to supply.

Dorset Police raided the room in January 2017 after receiving reports that a ‘suspicious white powder’ had been seen inside, with a strong smell of cannabis also emanating from within. 

Peers – who was handed three years behind bars in March 2021 – had been staying in the room but had already packed up and left

Rhys Jones, aged just 11, was shot dead in 2007 while walking home from football practice in Croxteth. The child was caught in the crossfire between two warring gangs – the Strand Gang and the Croxteth Crew

Sean Mercer is seen here in May 2020 in his first photo since he was jailed for life with a minimum of 22 years after shooting dead 11-year-old Rhys Jones

His car was then found in the car park of another nearby hotel later the same day. When officers entered their room at this premises, he and Mercer were found inside with nearly 100 wraps of heroin and crack cocaine plus £1,000 in cash as well as several mobile phones and a set of scales. 

Janette Mercer will be sentenced in February and was released on bail ahead of that date. She hid her face as she left court.

In October it was claimed that Sean Mercer, now 32, was to be quizzed by police over plans to smuggle illegal phones into prison.

Last month, the child killer was reportedly transferred to the ‘Monster Mansion’ jail, which houses some of Britain’s worst criminals, as police probe his links to a suspected contraband smuggling ring.

The murderer had previously boasted of his comfortable life behind bars in letters to pen pals, but sources say his new home at HMP Wakefield, West Yorks, will be far less pleasant.

‘Wakefield isn’t a nice place to be — it holds some of the worst of the worst. It’ll be a real shock to ­Mercer’s system,’ a source told The Sun.

Black cab rapist John Worboys, neo-Nazi Jack Renshaw and Roy Whiting, who murdered Sarah Payne, are among some of the prisoners at the jail.

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