Pond Life

You may all be aware of the fact that I have a pretty low opinion on the city of Liverpool. Not the actual physical city itself, which I imagine is just like any other dock city, but because of the hypocrisy that emanates from the people who occupy it.

I had already thought the nationwide stereotype of them being scallies and hub cap thieves was a bi-product of grim TV dramas such Boys from the Blackstuff and Brookside, but the antics of their football fans from the red side at the Heysel stadium was a key factor in my own reinforced poor image of the people.

Highly unfair I'm sure, but then the Rhys Jones murder happened and whilst I heard local Archbishops and Bishops praise the sense of community from the city, like many others all I was aware of was a wall of silence from those who knew the killers and were protecting them. And so it transpires that the mother of the killer Sean Mercer, Janette Mercer, did in fact lie to the Police in order to throw them off the scent of her son. Similarly the parents of his main accomplice and the supplier of the gun, James Yates, did a similar thing.

In Janette Mercers case she even tried to claim off the insurance for the mountain bike her son rode as he pulled the trigger. It defies belief doesn't it? Is it any wonder our society is going down the pan when parents believe that getting their son or daughter off a crime is more important than seeing the grief stricken family of the victim see justice done? Whilst the family of Rhys Jones have been in the most unspeakable pain and under the most unimaginable pressure, these parents were only concerned that their children, their murdering children were protected from justice. Presumably they could then get on with their lives as 'happy' families whilst the Jones family continued to grieve and in all probability would not be able to move on because without any justice there would be no closure.

How very moral of them. In fact I'm sure there are people out across the country who might even probably do the same, such is the love they have for their children. But it's wrong and misguided. and indeed very sad that they put themselves first. Janette Mercer and Francis and Marie Yates are nothing more than Pond Life with no moral compasses. They are indicative of the cowardice and moral vacuum the people of Liverpool projected during that time. And yes, I know its only a few, but those few who were protecting these murdering shitbags knew other people, who knew other people - the web was potentially huge but no-one wanted to say anything. The fear of the gang no doubt featured in this, but the parents must have also known. The police could have protected people. The silence from the people of Liverpool whilst shedding their crocodile tears to the rest of us was truly shocking. The parents deserve nothing less than custodial sentences for their part in the cover up and lies that prevented justice being done.

5 years wouldn't be too long now, would it?

Later, GJ