Rhys Jones police arrest two teenagers

LONDON (Reuters) - Detectives investigating the murder of schoolboy Rhys Jones have arrested two teenagers on suspicion of firearms offences, police said on Tuesday.

A boy of 16 and another aged 18 were taken to separate police stations in Merseyside where they will be questioned over the suspected possession of guns and ammunition.

"The arrests follow the recovery of two firearms following the execution of a search warrant at an address in Sword Walk, Croxteth, on September 30 this year," a Merseyside Police spokeswoman said.

The 16-year-old has already been arrested before on suspicion of the same offences, she added.

Police have arrested more than a dozen people in connection with the 11-year-old's murder. No one has been charged.

The schoolboy was shot in the neck near the Fir Tree pub in Croxteth, Liverpool, as he walked home from football practice in August.

His death, which followed a wave of teenage murders this year, shocked the country.

Thousands gathered at the city's Anglican cathedral for his funeral, with many mourners wearing the royal blue of his favourite football team, Everton.

It also prompted Prime Minister Gordon Brown to announce a crackdown on gun crime, which included police in four "hotspot" cities, London, Liverpool, Birmingham and Manchester, to be equipped with handheld weapon scanners.

Merseyside Police have released grainy CCTV footage, showing a hooded boy on a BMX bike in the moments before and after the murder.

The boy's mother, Melanie Jones, has also made a direct appeal to the mother of the killer to listen to her conscience and hand them into police.