Rhys killer ends sentence appeal

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The killer of Liverpool schoolboy Rhys Jones has withdrawn an appeal against his 22-year minimum jail term.

Sean Mercer, of Croxteth, Liverpool, was due to go the Court of Appeal next week to fight the tariff handed to him for murdering the 11-year-old.

On Friday, Merseyside Police and the Court of Appeal confirmed the appeal was not going ahead.

It means Mercer, 18, has no prospect of release until 2030 at the earliest, when he will be aged 40.

Mercer was 16 when he shot Rhys outside the Fir Tree pub in August 2007, as the schoolboy walked back to his home from football practice.

Killer 'a coward'

He was shooting at members of the rival Norris Green gang when one of the bullets hit Rhys in the neck.

Rhys bled to death in his mother Melanie's arms just minutes away from his home.

Five fellow gang members were convicted unanimously of assisting an offender after they helped Mercer evade the police for months.

A sixth was convicted of four related charges.

At the end of the trial, judge Mr Justice Irwin branded Mercer a "coward" and described the gang members as "selfish and shallow criminals".