Rest in peace little man Well-wishers leave tributes to Rhys
0 Comments | Liverpool Echo (Liverpool, England), Dec 19, 2008
Byline: by BEN ROSSINGTON Crime Reporter
A POIGNANT Christmas message to the family of Rhys Jones was today among the growing tributes laid at the scene of the schoolboy’s death.
On the ornamental well outside Croxteth Park’s Fir Tree pub, which has become a makeshift shrine to the 11-year-old, was a small festive basket.
No name was put on the note, which stuck out from between conifer leaves, pine cones, flowers and ribbon.
It read: “Hope you can have your Xmas with peace. Your son got justice,” and was accompanied by three kisses.
Well-wishers have placed fresh flowers by the well outside the boarded-up pub regularly ever since Rhyswas killed on August 22 2007.
A picture of him and his football teammates is pinned to the wooden frame, covered in clear plastic but still faded by the weather.
And a blue Everton scarf, that of his favourite team, remains tied around the beam.
More tributes have been placed there since Sean Mercer was jailed for life this week Other notes read: “Rest in peace little man. Justice has been done” and, in a child’s scrawl, “Reece (sic), never forget. Sweet dreams, life should mean life.”
Meanwhile the future of the pub, which has been boarded up since February, remains uncertain.
The pub has been renamed as The Stand Farm and Enterprise Inns have applied to upgrade the building with a new entrance, smoking shelter and fencing.
Local residents have objected to the reopening of the pub and the disturbance it would cause to nearby houses.
Police have also previously described the pub as “a badly-run public house, strongly linked to gang culture, whose members are actively involved in drugs and firearms.”
A decision on the application was deferred by the planning committee.
Committee chairman Cllr Dave Irving said: “I’m going to defer this decision because this is a sensitive area given the tragedy that occurred there.”
A spokeswoman for Enterprise Inns, who have been in close contact with the police over the future of the pub, said: “We are still considering the future of the pub.”
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CAPTION(S):
MAKESHIFT SHRINE: Tributes continue to be left at the scene of Rhys’s murder (inset) Rhys Jones; SEAN MERCER: Killer
