A gangster jailed over the murder of schoolboy Rhys Jones will reportedly be released from prison today.
James Yates, who supplied the revolver which killed 11-year-old Rhys in 2007, is said to be delighted after winning parole.
Yates, 30, has been deemed to be no longer a threat to society by the Parole Board.
He was sentenced to 12 years in prison for his role in Rhys’ death but the news of his release will likely devastate the victim’s parents.
James Yates (left) was jailed for his part in the murder of Rhys Jones but will be released from prison today. Sean Mercer (right) was the killer and was jailed for life
Rhys Jones was just 11-years-old when he was gunned down in Liverpool by Sean Mercer
The crime shocked the nation. Rhys’ heartbroken parents Melanie and Stephen were pictured reading messages of condolence shortly after the killing
A source told The Sun: ‘Yates is a serial criminal and a nasty piece of work. Although he didn’t pull the trigger, he set the wheels firmly in motion for Rhys’ death.
‘His release is devastating news. How many chances does he get?’
Yates has a lengthy criminal record including convictions for drugs.
During the murder trial, he was heard saying: ‘All this fuss over a kid.’ For his part in Rhys’ death, Yates was sentenced to seven years in prison – later increased to 12 years by the Court of Appeal.
He walked free in 2014 but was arrested two years later in connection with drug deals in Scotland.
He was returned to jail for breaching his licence. But just before Christmas a three-person Parole Board decided he could go free – and days later another panel decided black cab rapist John Worboys could also be freed.
Rhys’ family has been told Yates will be moved to a bail hostel, but his licence conditions will prevent him from living in the Croxteth area of Liverpool, where Rhys’ parents still live.
Everton fan Rhys was returning from football practice in Croxteth, Liverpool, on 22 August 2007, when he inadvertently walked into a gang fight and was shot in the neck.
Sean Mercer, then aged 16, was a member of the Croxteth Crew and embroiled in a bitter territorial dispute with the Strand Gang.
When he heard they had strayed onto his ‘patch’, he cycled on his BMX bike to the Fir Tree pub armed with a First World War Smith & Wesson revolver and fired three times at his rivals.
Stephen and Melanie Jones will likely be devastated that one of the men who played a key role in their son’s murder will walk free at the age of 30
Rhys’ murder was dramatised in ITV programme Little Boy Blue. Pictured: Sonny Beyga as Rhys and Sinead Keenan as Melanie
Melvin Coy (left) and Nathan Quinn (right) were also jailed for their part in Rhys’ murder
Gang member Gary Kays, who was jailed for his involvement in the murder of schoolboy Rhys Jones
The second shot hit Rhys in the back and he died at the scene, in the arms of his mother, Melanie, who rushed to see her son when she heard the news.
Tragically, Rhys had been offered a lift home by his football coach, Stephen Geoghegan, but the youngster declined as it would be easy for him to walk across the park.
But, as he started his journey through the car park of the Fir Tree pub he was gunned down.
Mercer cycled from the scene and was at the centre of a cover-up in which he was doused with petrol, his clothes burnt and the murder weapon hidden.
In the drama Little Boy Blue, Yates, played by James Nelson-Joyce, utters the words: ‘All this fuss over a kid’
The battered, old Smith & Wesson was found in the loft of a house a month after Rhys was shot dead.
The news of Rhys’ murder stunned the UK, and Liverpool in particular, with police asking football fans at Everton’s Goodison Park for help in finding the killer.
In April 2008, eight months after his killing, Merseyside Police confirmed that 11 people had been charged in connection with the case.
In December of that year, Mercer was found guilty of murder
Other gang members James Yates, Nathan Quinn, Boy ‘M’, Gary Kays, and Melvin Coy were convicted of assisting an offender.
Boy ‘K’, later revealed as Dean Kelly, was convicted of four related offences.
All of the accomplices were handed sentences of between seven and two years, with one boy being given a two-year supervision order.