Sean Mercer ‘frantic’ for move to ‘easier’ jail ten years after coward killed Rhys Jones, 11 because he can’t hack life in tough high-security prison

THE cowardly killer of schoolboy Rhys Jones is ”frantic” to be moved to a cushier prison because he can’t hack it in his tough, high-security jail.

Sean Mercer, 26, who gunned down the innocent 11-year-old as he shot at rival gang members, is moaning after being transferred to serve time alongside the Yorkshire Ripper.

And in a move that has sparked outrage, Mercer has now joined a special course at HMP Frankland in Durham designed to get his category A status lowered to a B.

That could make him eligible for a transfer to a softer jail.

Insiders say Mercer is “struggling to hack” the strict regime and is so desperate to convince prison authorities he merits a transfer to a lower category jail that he has joined Frankland’s Psychologically Informed Planned Environment (PIPE) unit.

It holds up to 21 cons and is aimed at inmates who have failed to get downgraded to category B status — despite completing several offender courses.

One source told the Sun on Sunday: “By spending time on the PIPE unit Mercer hopes to earn a chance to be downgraded and moved to a cushier, lower category prison.”

The gym fanatic has been moved around the prison service ever since he was found guilty of Rhys’s murder at Liverpool Crown Court on December 16, 2008.

Sentenced to a minimum of 22 years behind bars he was first held in HMP Manchester and later spent time at Doncaster’s Moorland jail and HMP Woodhill, Milton Keynes.

After the past four years at HM Prison Wakefield, West Yorks, in recent months he was moved 92 miles north to Frankland.

He is not cut out for life with the big boys

Mercer now finds himself keeping company with some of the UK’s most notorious cons.

As well as Yorkshire Ripper Peter Sutcliffe, they include Soham murderer Ian Huntley and serial killer Stephen Port.

Our source said: “There are some heavy people in Frankland and Mercer is not one of them.

“He’s not cut out for life with the big boys. That’s why he is so frantic to get out. Frankland has a horrific roster of murderers, gangsters and serial killers.”

Mercer’s bid for a cushier life inside has outraged many.

Ann Edge, whose husband Tony comforted Everton-fan Rhys as he lay dying in the street, said: “The prison he is in couldn’t be tough enough. It is not supposed to be a holiday camp. A category B prison is for lesser crimes, not for someone who’s committed murder”

Tony added: “I won’t waste my breath even talking about Sean Mercer.”

The news of Mercer joining the PIPE unit emerged as it nears the tenth anniversary of Rhys’s death, and as ITV prepares to screen Little Boy Blue, about the killing.

The four-part factual drama, starring Stephen Graham as the lead detective, was made with the support of Rhys’s parents, Melanie and Steve Jones. It will explore the family’s ordeal and tell how Rhys’s murderer was brought to justice.

The senseless killing of Liverpool lad Rhys on August 22, 2007, fuelled a national outcry. More than 2,500 people turned up for the youngster’s funeral and thousands signed a book of condolence. Players from Liverpool and Everton paid tribute.

The tragedy also highlighted the problem of trigger-happy gangs running amok in local communities.

Then-Prime Minister Gordon Brown called it “a heinous crime that has shocked the whole of the country” and pledged a crackdown on gang violence.

Within days Merseyside Police had dispatched 200 extra cops to tackle the problem. Its anti-gang Force Matrix unit found the city’s entire gang network involved just 100 teenagers, many only 13, and revealed 124 shootings in 2005-06.

Public revulsion combined with an increase in police raids and the targeting of known criminals saw a dramatic fall in gun crime.

But ten years on there has been a spike in gangland shootings and gun attacks.

Police now fear that children as young as ten are being recruited as gun smugglers and there have been 87 shootings and four deaths in the past 12 months.

They now believe the region’s gangland network consists of 193 organised gangs of more than 3,000 crooks, ranging from street-level drug dealers to internationally-feared gangsters.

It seems the much trumpeted crackdown has failed to deliver.

Footie-mad Rhys had been on his way home when he was caught in crossfire in Croxteth. Mercer was a gun-obsessed 16-year-old and a leading member of the Croxteth Young Guns gang when he fatally shot Rhys with a stray bullet from a battered World War One revolver. None of his intended targets was hit.

During his trial, Liverpool Crown Court heard that Mercer’s “Crocky Crew” were involved in a tit-for-tat turf war with the Strand Gang, aka the “Nogga Dogz”, from the neighbouring Norris Green estate.

There had been more than 20 reports of shots from cars or bikes between 2004 and 2007.

Two months before he shot Rhys, Mercer had been seen brandishing a gun while riding on the back of a motorcycle in a rival gang’s territory. And on the day of the fatal shooting he was under a three-year Asbo for terrorising security guards at a sports centre.

You gloried in this stupid gang conflict

When told that three Strand Gang members had been seen on Crocky Crew territory, Mercer raced there on a BMX, armed with the Smith & Wesson .455 revolver.

He fired three shots. The second of which hit Rhys in the back.

The youngster died at the scene, in the arms of his mother Melanie.

Mercer fled, hiding at a friend’s and calling on gang members to help him escape capture.

He was driven to a lock-up garage where the clothes he had been wearing were burned and his body washed with petrol to remove any traces of gunshot residue. He gave the pistol to a friend to hide.

Mercer was arrested within days but denied murder, claiming he had been at a friend’s watching a DVD when Rhys was killed.

It took eight months for Mercer to be charged. When his case came to court, in December 2008, the jury convicted him unanimously.

Passing sentence, Judge Mr Justice Irwin told him: “This offence arose from the stupid, brutal gang conflict which has struck this part of Liverpool.

“It is clear you gloried in it. It is wrong to let anyone glorify or romanticise this kind of gang conflict. You are not soldiers. You have no discipline, no training, no honour. You do not command respect.

"You may think you do, but that is because you cannot tell the difference between respect and fear. You are selfish, shallow criminals, remarkable only by the danger you pose to others.”

A string of his fellow gang members were also jailed for trying to protect Mercer. His mum Janette, a £50-a-night prostitute, was jailed for three years for lying to police investigating her son.

Within a fortnight of being sent down, Mercer was attacked by a fellow inmate who broke his nose.

Maybe he fears more of the same — or worse — at Frankland. But at least he has a future to worry about . . . unlike Rhys.