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Rhys accused denies shooting link | |
(20 minutes later) | |
A man has denied starting the chain of events that led to the killing of schoolboy Rhys Jones in Liverpool. | |
Melvin Coy, 25, is accused of making a phone call to Sean Mercer, 18, alerting him to rival gang members in Croxteth. | Melvin Coy, 25, is accused of making a phone call to Sean Mercer, 18, alerting him to rival gang members in Croxteth. |
Mr Mercer, of Good Shepherd Close, Croxteth, denies murdering Rhys and Mr Coy, of Abbeyfield Road, West Derby, denies assisting an offender. | |
The prosecution claims Mr Mercer cycled to the Fir Tree car park and fired three shots, one of them killing Rhys. | The prosecution claims Mr Mercer cycled to the Fir Tree car park and fired three shots, one of them killing Rhys. |
Mr Coy told Liverpool Crown Court he spoke to Mr Mercer on his mobile phone hours before Rhys' death - contradicting the teenager's claim he lost it the weekend before the murder. | |
Mr Coy's barrister Benjamin Hargreaves asked him: "Are you responsible for starting the sequence of events leading to the shooting?" | |
Gang 'turf' | |
"No," replied Mr Coy, a welder. | |
Mr Coy denied going with co-accused Gary Kays, 25, minutes after Rhys's death to collect Mr Mercer, Nathan Quinn, 18, and James Yates, 20, from the house of a boy who cannot be named. | |
The prosecution alleges the men drove to Mr Coy's lock-up in nearby Kirkby where Mr Mercer was washed with petrol and his clothes burned. | |
Mr Kays, of Mallard Close, Croxteth Park, was cross examined by Neil Flewitt QC, leading barrister for the prosecution. | |
The joiner repeatedly told the court he could not remember details or phone calls from the night of the killing. | |
'Playing down' | |
He insisted he wanted to help the police when he was arrested in April and charged with assisting an offender, but could not be sure of the night's events. | |
He also denied making a phone call to Mr Mercer, tipping him off that alleged Strand Gang member Wayne Brady, 20, was on Croxteth "turf" just 20 minutes before the murder. | |
Mr Kays denied lying and "playing down" his involvement with Mr Mercer and Mr Yates, and denied trying to protect Mr Mercer. | |
Mr Yates, of Dodman Road, Croxteth; Mr Quinn, of Wickett Close, Croxteth; Mr Kays, of Mallard Close and Mr Coy, are accused of assisting an offender along with Boy M, 16, and Boy K, 17, who cannot be named. | |
The trial continues. |
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