No charges against Rhys killer’s father

The father of Rhys Jones’s killer will not be charged after being arrested over an arson attack on the home of his son’s fellow gang member Gary Kays, police sources have said.

Joseph McCormick, 56, was detained by Merseyside Police in July after the home Mr Kays shared with his family in Croxteth Park, Liverpool, was set alight.

Mr McCormick, whose murderer son Sean Mercer, 18, was locked up for life last year, was questioned then released on bail until yesterday.

A source said: “No further action will be taken as there is no evidence to support action against him.”

A petrol bomb was thrown through a downstairs window of the tidy suburban property on Mallard Close in the early hours of Saturday, July 11. Businessman Gary Kays senior and his wife Patricia were on holiday at the time but their daughter was at home. She and her boyfriend managed to extinguish the fire before the emergency services arrived.

Mr Kays junior, 26, was jailed for seven years during last December’s trial. He was unanimously convicted of two counts of assisting an offender and played a central role in trying to cover up Sean Mercer’s guilt.

As well as helping to ferry Mr Mercer to an industrial lock-up where gunshot residue was washed off him and his clothes burned, Mr Kays was responsible for putting Mr Mercer at the murder scene. He phoned his fellow Croxteth Crew gang member to tell him rival Norris Green thugs were on their turf.