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.
