The family of a man who was shot dead in his own home were forced to flee their own home in the middle of the night when they received death threats and struggled to live with the loss of their son.
Michael Rainsford, known by his friends and family as Mikey, was shot twice while in his kitchen at his home on Harrington Road, Litherland, by James Foy who was standing in the garden with his brother Michael Foy. During the court case, the then 19-year-old had stood in front of his victim's devastated loved ones and insisted: "I had murdered no one." When he admitted the shooting, he had already been found guilty and was facing a mandatory life sentence.
After a four-week trial jurors found he and his older brother, Michael Foy, had shot Mikey in a revenge attack that essentially targeted the wrong man. The shooting came less than an hour after bricks had been hurled at their Seaforth home while their mum was alone inside on the night of April 7, 2020.
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Mikey, described by his heartbroken dad, Michael Rainsford Snr, as a talented skater who was shy when growing up, told the ECHO about the struggle the family went through living in the home where his son died. Speaking about what he was like, the 56-year-old said: "Michael was such an integral part of our family. We talk about him being the biggest cog in it with his strength and how he looked after his brother and sister during his life. He was physically and mentally strong."
The talented 20-year-old was known throughout the skateboarding and BMXing community having spent large amounts of his childhood at Rampworx Skatepark in Aintree. His dad continued, speaking about the family's decision to leave the home where Mikey had died.
He said: "We had to move. We got death threats about a month afterwards. It took a while to get the windows with the bullet holes taken out and the windows replaced so that was added trauma for us. Every day we would walk up the stairs and have to step over where my son had died, where he had been murdered.
"Every day we would go into the kitchen to make a cup of tea, a piece of toast, cook dinner and we would look out the window where bullets had come through and killed Michael. It was adding to the trauma.
"We were being offered somewhere else to live and we as a family had to try and balance the millions of memories we had made in that home with this one horrific nightmare. The nightmare won and we had to leave.
"We were damned if we did and damned if we didn't. There's nothing we could do about it."
In total, five people were sentenced in connection with the murder of Michael Rainsford. The five were sentenced to a total of over 60 years in prison at Liverpool Crown Court on Friday, March 2021, after all being found guilty following a trial.
Michael Foy, 22, of Rossini Street, Seaforth, was found guilty of murder and was sentenced to life in prison to serve a minimum of 30 years. His brother, James Foy, 19, of Rossini Street, Seaforth, was found guilty of murder and possession of a firearm, and was sentenced to life in prison to serve a minimum of 28 years.
Andrea Saunderson, 47, was found guilty of perverting the course of justice and was sentenced to one year and six months (suspended for two years) and given a rehabilitation order. Joyce Smith, 45, was found guilty of perverting the course of justice and was sentenced to two years and six months and Craig Johnson, 39, of Willard Drive, Bootle, was found guilty of perverting the course of justice and was sentenced to three years.
Michael spoke to the ECHO ahead of The Murder of Mikey Rainsford, part of the Social Media Murders, airing exclusively on ITVX from Thursday, March 9.
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