Rhys Jones Is Everyone’s Pet Cause
RHYS Jones dominates the front pages.
“RHYS JONES 1995-2—7,” says the Mirror’s front page. And there’s a quote from this mother Melanie: “My son, my baby. He was only 11. Shot in the back of his neck from behind. My baby.”
“MY BABY,” says the Sun’s lead headline. “WE’VE LOST OUR BABY,” says the Mail.
There’s a picture of Melanie Jones. Her grief is raw. Her son died in her arms. She cannot stand it. She cannot believe it. Her husband Stephen is devastated. Their son has been shot three times in a pub car park after playing football.
This is a rare crime, the assassination of an 11-year-old boy by, as police believe, a young teenager on a BMX bike.
Looking For Reason
The shock is in the age of the victim. But the Express senses more. “A boy of 11 shot dead…just what has gone wrong with our country?”
“Is gun crime now totally out of control in Britain,” asks the paper. The answer is ‘No’. Gun crime remains rare. The murder of an 11-year-old is extreme. As the Sun says, eight youngsters have been shot dead in London this year, one in Manchester and now Rhys Jones.
But a senseless murder needs to be part of something bigger. This story would be enough for many, but the papers want more.
“RHYS JONES,” says the Sun “VICTIM OF ANARCHY IN THE UK.” And: “How did we sink so low? How do we put it right?”
What’s with the “we”? Only one of us has killed a small boy in his football kit. The rest of us find it appalling and want the culprit found and put away.
But while we wait we need something to blame. And there is not shortage of people willing to point the finger.
Pet Concerns
Frank Soddeen, of Alcohol Concern, blames “BOOZING CULTURE”. Professor Alan Smithers, chairman of the Centre For Education And Employment Research, blames “BAD SCHOOLS”. Norman Brennan, a policeman, blames “LACK OF POLICE”.
The murder of a little boy is now the chance for people to push their own agendas, perhaps even to secure some more funding for their pet causes.
“Let this change us as a nation,” says the Sun’s editorial. This is important. The Sun has no Page 3 today; even Nikki cannot make sense of it.
But the Sun wants to know. So a Sun writer journeys to Liverpool (a place that hates the paper) and visits a housing estate. Sue Evison senses: “Brooding menace on the bleak streets Rhys called home.”
Rhys lived on a private housing estate. While no Eden, it is not bleak. He had been playing football in the park. Evison sees a “square of scrubland – you could hardly call it grass”. TV pictures of the murder scene show a lush expanse of greenery.
Maybe Evison is a green campaigner? Maybe she cannot comprehend how such a hideous crime can occur in so ordinary a place.
It’s hard to make sense of any of it…
August 24th, 2007 at 9:21 am
Newsnight (BBC2) last night made a pretty good attempt at pinning the causes of this shooting on ‘abused’ kids. It was a unique (if somehow inevitable) take on the situation, by anyone’s standards.
I don’t think John Gaunt (The Sun), was having any of it. His solution was ‘a bigger stick’ - with which, presumably, to beat the little buggers over the head with.
How the media love a story like this. I guess the hour-long ‘Tonight Special’ with Sir Trevor (in serious mode) can’t be too far behind…
August 24th, 2007 at 9:31 am
Can we send them all to Iraq?
August 24th, 2007 at 12:47 pm
I left UK 25 years ago, (my parents career) I had never seen a gun in my life, only in the museums. my husband was in the army here in South Africa and he had a army rifle, he now has a revolver which is licenced and he has renewed every so many years. this murder has left me stunned as to what is happening in the UK, I still watch sky news religiously and cant believe that number of murders that have occured in the last month, this senseless murder of yound Rhys has left be absoloutly shattered, my thoughts and prayers are with the family. No parent should have to bury their children especially in such terrible unthinkable circumstances.
God bless
August 24th, 2007 at 8:13 pm
Toni: Yeah the UK is really a rough place nowadays. We all wish we were in RSA - NOT.
I assume you don’t venture into the city then? What with their gangland murders, daylight muggins in the city centre, massive cross border immigration and armed vigilante patrols. You must feel really safe. God bless.
August 25th, 2007 at 4:40 pm
Toni…. your husband has a revolver? Safe there is it?
August 25th, 2007 at 9:18 pm
Since they took away Hand gun licenses there has been more and more crimes involving hand Guns. What was they thinking by taking away a license it would stop the crimes! that was sensible.
Just made it easier i say.
This is not just a UK problem its a world wide problem and the UK is not as bad as alot of other places, it is actually quite a peaceful place compared to some. Yes the evil crimes are going on here too, and the crims are getting younger but its no diffrent any where else.
The facts that a child as young as Rhys got shot for no apperant reason is so heart breaking, he looked such a nice kid and didnt deserve to go through that. hopefully the world will change but hopes and dreams are hard to make true.
August 26th, 2007 at 1:33 am
yawn.. posting messages.. please get to the point quite quickly, unless you have something serious and credible to say… A Person (6) Yawnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn……………………
August 26th, 2007 at 1:57 am
Sorry but I feel compelled to wheel out an old cliche - guns dont kill, people do.
August 26th, 2007 at 6:03 pm
Thats right so why all those years ago did they take away the hand gun license it didnt stop the murders people found it alot easier to get an illegal weapon.
Moriarty if it bores you dear then dont read it.
What have you contributed to any conversation.
August 28th, 2007 at 3:58 pm
Hello,
How do you know gun crime is rare? The Times (on Saturday, I think) had a leaked document that shows that, while we have been told gun crime is rarer than it was ten years ago, it has actually risen four-fold. And it isn’t just because the press are reporting it more often. As a journalist who has worked on local papers, I can tell you that a story like this would, without doubt make the front pages. This is a very real issue and we should not be hiding our heads in the sand