Six more held over schoolboy's murder

By Peter Griffiths

LONDON (Reuters) - Liverpool police arrested six more teenagers, two of them girls, on Saturday in connection with the murder of schoolboy Rhys Jones and renewed appeals for help in finding his killer.

Three boys aged, 15, 16, and 19 and two girls aged 15 and 18 were detained in Liverpool on Saturday morning, a Merseyside Police spokesman said. Another 19-year-old male was arrested later in the day.

Detective Superintendent David Kelly said one of the boys was injured during the arrest when he fell from a window through which he was trying to escape. He said the injuries were not life-threatening.

He called for a dark-haired woman seen pushing a pram in the area at the time of the shooting to come forward.

"We believe this woman may have passed by the person responsible for killing Rhys," he told reporters, adding that the woman had been wearing white flared trousers and a dark top.

Detectives expressed concern at the lack of evidence from the public and urged people to "stand up and be counted".

Chief Superintendent Chris Armitt of Merseyside Police said he would protect people scared of reprisals from local gangs if they come forward.

"We understand that people are frightened, but people have got to stand up and be counted," he told reporters. "We have not had the level of information about those key issues that we would expect and that we want.