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| Rhys killer father in arson probe | Rhys killer father in arson probe |
| (31 minutes later) | |
| The father of Rhys Jones's killer has been arrested over an arson attack at the home of one of his son's fellow convicted gang members. | The father of Rhys Jones's killer has been arrested over an arson attack at the home of one of his son's fellow convicted gang members. |
| Joseph McCormick, 56, the father of Sean Mercer, was arrested over a fire at the home of Gary Kays in Mallard Close, West Derby on Merseyside. | |
| Merseyside Police said a 56-year-old man had been bailed over the incident, which happened early on Saturday. | |
| Kays, 26, was jailed for his part in Rhys's death in August 2007. | |
| He was one of six gang members jailed. | |
| Merseyside Police said officers were alerted to the fire at 0300 BST on Saturday. A man and a woman inside the house managed to escape uninjured. | |
| A police spokesman added: "No-one else was inside the house at the time and only minor damage was caused to the front downstairs window." | A police spokesman added: "No-one else was inside the house at the time and only minor damage was caused to the front downstairs window." |
| Gary Kays was convicted alongside Rhys's killer Sean Mercer | |
| A "flammable device" was used to start the blaze at Kays' home, police said. | |
| Rhys, 11, was shot dead on 22 August 2007 in the car park of the Firtree pub, Croxteth, as he returned from football practice. | |
| Kays was jailed for seven years for two counts of assisting an offender at Liverpool Crown Court in December 2008. | Kays was jailed for seven years for two counts of assisting an offender at Liverpool Crown Court in December 2008. |
| He was convicted of driving Mercer, 18, to an industrial site to burn his clothes after Mercer shot the schoolboy. | He was convicted of driving Mercer, 18, to an industrial site to burn his clothes after Mercer shot the schoolboy. |
| Along with Kays, five other members of Mercer's gang were convicted of helping him evade detection by police after Rhys's murder. |