These are the faces of six family members who covered up the crimes of their loved ones to try and help them escape justice.
From the mum who lied to detectives investigating the murder of Rhys Jones to a younger brother who helped his eldest sibling bury the body of his wife. Instead of cooperating with police officers, all the people on this list attempted to pervert the course of justice in their families favour.
Instead, police had to go the long way around to find out what happened in each case, bringing more misery to the families affected.
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Janette Mercer
This is the face of lying mum Janette Mercer, who has been jailed for a second time after covering her sons' crimes.
She was previously locked up for three years back in 2009 for perverting the course of justice, having lied to detectives investigating the murder of Rhys Jones. Son Sean Mercer, then aged 16, shot and killed the 11-year-old in August 2007.
Janette Mercer was imprisoned again at Liverpool Crown Court earlier this year, after helping another of her children, Joseph Mercer, to remain at large while he was wanted for dealing drugs. The now 63-year-old allowed the fugitive to live with her while misleading the police over his whereabouts.
Charlotte Kenny, prosecuting, told the court that his mother "knew he was wanted by police" in connection with this offence but allowed him to stay at her home on Daisy Street in Kirkdale during a six-month period in 2019 and 2020 "to impede his apprehension". Police attended the address on several occasions while looking for Joseph Mercer during this time, but Janette Mercer claimed she only spoke to her son rarely when he called her on a withheld number.
During one visit from officers, she “presented as being extremely anxious” and was “having palpitations” but said she did not require an ambulance. On December 4, 2019, PCs knocked on her door on two occasions but received no answer.
A dog could be heard barking inside, while the television was on during the second visit. A PC contacted Mercer by phone on this date, but she stated she "only spoke to him now and again".
Joseph Mercer was eventually located at the property by the force on June 13 2020, and it was "evident he had been living there" as well as spending periods at the Malmaison Hotel in Liverpool city centre. His clothes were located in a wardrobe and his identification was found in a chest of drawers, while a stash of cannabis was also seized from the bedroom where he had been staying.
He was imprisoned for 30 months in October 2020, having been caught peddling heroin and crack cocaine from a hotel room in Bournemouth. The then 25-year-old was locked up after admitting possession of class A drugs with intent to supply.
Janette Mercer's previous involvement with the law came after Rhys Jones was tragically caught in the crossfire of a feud between the Croxteth Crew and the rival Norris Green-based Strand Gang by the Fir Tree pub as he walked home from football training on the summer evening nearly 16 years ago. Sean Mercer was later unanimously convicted of murder by a jury and jailed for life with a minimum term of 22 years.
His mum tried to cover up a crucial piece of evidence by lying to police in a statement when they asked her about bicycles her son owned or had access to. He was riding a silver mountain bike when he fired the fatal shot, but Jeanette Mercer claimed he did not own such a bike - instead saying he had only a black, orange and white one.
But it was subsequently discovered that she taken delivery of the bike four months earlier when it was sent to the family following an insurance claim. On the day of her sentencing, she reportedly smiled at friends and family in the public gallery as she was led to the cells by security guards.
Mercer was heard sobbing in the dock and dabbed her eyes with a tissue as she was sentenced for her latest lies. Clare Ashcroft, defending, said that her client had been freed from prison in late 2010 and was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder the following year.
Mercer was imprisoned for nine months.
Linda Doran
Mum Linda Doran, described by a judge as a "pathetic and tragic character" was jailed for covering up for her killer sons in 2013.
Connor and Brandon Doran were just 17 and 14-years-old when, with their friend Simon Evans, 14, they were jailed for the murder of a homeless man. Kevin Bennett, 54, was sleeping rough outside a supermarket in Walton, when he was ferociously attacked by the boys, in August 2012.
Vulnerable Mr Bennett, was left with a collapsed lung, broken rib cage and fractured eye socket. He died in hospital six days after the attack, on August 17.
During a trial, in Liverpool Crown Court, in 2013, the jury heard how Connor and Evans goaded each other on, as Brandon acted as a look-out. Their versions conflicted about what they were doing on the evening of Mr Bennett's death though they agreed they had gone out to get energy drinks and crisps, at about midnight, from a shop on County Road.
It was while they were out that they found Mr Bennett sleeping in an alleyway.
Evans told the court that Connor said: “Do you fancy doing him in with me? If you kick him first I will do the rest.”
He said Connor was in an “aggressive mood” and he felt scared of him so he kicked Mr Bennett in the head. CCTV showed the three boys leaving the murder scene checking Connor’s trousers for, what the prosecution said was blood stains.
The morning after the attack Evans confessed to his mum Denise Murphy that “something terrible happened”.
However when detectives investigating the murder of Mr Bennett knocked on the door of Linda Doran’s home, the mother-of-five did not even bother to answer it. She had assumed it was just the neighbours complaining about one or other of her boys, as they did pretty much every day of the week.
And when police interviewed her about the whereabouts of Connor and Brandon on the night of the murder, she provided them with a false alibi. Giving evidence in court, she attempted to claim she had got her dates wrong because she was "stressed and depressed".
But her excuse was thrown out by a judge who said the 42-year-old had shown herself to be “unwilling and unable to shoulder the responsibility of motherhood”.
On sentencing the failed mum to 31 months in prison the judge said: “You are a pathetic and tragic character. You have just seen your two youngest sons sent to detention for a murder.
“Your code of honour was to protect your boys in their hour of need at any price, particularly if the price was honesty and decency. Your lying account prolonged the investigation by an already stretched police force and made it more difficult.”
Connor Doran, was detained for a minimum of 12 years.
Evans, described as a “model pupil” before he met the Doran brothers, was detained for eight years.
Meanwhile Brandon Doran, who took no part in the violence but kept a look-out while the “brutal” attack took place, was detained for six years.
Francis and Marie Yates
Parents of James Yates - who provided killer Sean Mercer with the gun he used to kill Rhys Jones - were jailed for covering up for their criminal son.
Marie was sentenced to 18 months in prison in April 2009 and Francis, known as Frank, received four and a half years. On a police recording bug, planted in the home of the Yates family, Francis and Marie Yates were heard destroying evidence and planning to help their son.
On the recording, Francis, known as Frank, can be heard saying to his wife: “James asked me ‘Can you try to get Sean out of trouble?’ and I went ‘I will do as much as I can, so I asked the two of them ‘what’s gone on?’ And they told me.”
Around 15 minutes later, Marie Yates burned a mobile phone SIM card that could have connected James to the Croxteth Crew after a police search of their house missed it.
Marie Yates: “...I want to burn it. Here you are [sound of lighter striking]. It stinks that [as it burns]. Turn it around.”
Francis Yates: “It’s the gold thing [on the chip] you want to burn and that’s it.”
Marie Yates: “I know. I’ll turn it around now. It’s not the whole thing getting burned.”
Francis Yates: “Go underneath it.”
Marie Yates: “That’s the thing burning isn’t it? ......f****** chip......”
Francis Yates: “That’s on it, yeah. Finished. Makes no difference whether they [the police] find it or not now. They would never be able to trace it.”
The pair were jailed for destroying potential evidence and hiding vital information from police.
Their son James, who was jailed for 12 years, is reported to have “broke down in tears” when he heard that his parents had been jailed.
Steven Wood
The cousin of a murderer concealed a bag of clothing worn by the killer, after he fatally stabbed a teenager.
Steven Wood hid the bag of clothing worn by Anthony Wood, who had been involved in the fatal stabbing of St Helens teenager Jordan Campbell. The defendant denied attempting to pervert the course of justice by hiding the incriminating evidence but a jury at Liverpool Crown Court unanimously found him guilty.
The 26-year-old Wood broke down in tears on hearing the guilty verdict, in December 2017. Daniel Wiltshire and Ruben Hoather had earlier in the year pleaded guilty to murdering the teenager
Emergency services were called to a fire in Tickle Avenue, St Helens, on January 1 2015. The body of 17-year-old Jordan Campbell, who had been stabbed in the back, was found inside the building.
In a bid to conceal the crime his cousin had been involved in, Steven Wood left the clothes his cousin had been wearing during the murder, with his neighbour Leanne Brereton after making up a story about having a row with his mother. Miss Brereton agreed to the request and put the bags in her garage.
When officers at a later date searched the address, they found a knotted black bin bag in the garage. Inside were two further bin bags and inside the third bag police found a black and white Supply and Demand T shirt, black and blue Adidas tracksuit pants and orange boxer shorts.
A forensic examination later revealed that the t-shirt and tracksuit trousers had blood spots on them which matched Jordan Campbell’s DNA.
One of the trouser legs had been damaged by fire.
There was no DNA match between the bags and the three killers, she said but when the bags were tested for finger or palm prints there was a match with Steven Wood.
Elliott Quy
Elliot Quy helped cover up the crime of his murderer brother Mitchell Quy - who killed and dismembered his wife's body.
The 22-year-old was called upon to help his eldest brother - who the day before had strangled his wife and mum of his two children, Lynsey Quy, to death.
The calculating murderer killed his wife downstairs, in their Southport home, as their two young children slept upstairs.
The day after he strangled her to death, in December 1998, he approached his brother Elliot for help.
Elliott, a butcher, turned up at the couple's home, equipped with a hacksaw, a hammer, a screwdriver and a carpet knife for Mitchell to dismember his wife's body.
He watched as Mitchell Quy cut his wife's body into pieces, holding open a series of black bin bags so the remains could be disguised as rubbish.
The younger brother then took away his sister-in-law's head and hands in a bag, placing them outside a shop in town.
They have never been recovered.
For the next 18 months, while Mrs Quy's parents searched in vain for her, Elliott repeatedly lied to police about her fate.
After his arrest, he told police that he had never been able to say 'no' to Mitchell.
He said he did not really know what to do and felt he had to help whenever asked.
In 2001, he was jailed for seven years for assisting an offender in the disposal of a body and attempting to pervert the course of justice.
He showed no emotion as Judge Mr Justice Leveson told him: "You embarked upon a campaign of deceit to support your brother by lying again and again over an 18-month period.
"It is difficult to imagine a more serious case of assisting an offender or facts more horrific."
When Elliot was released in 2008, Lynsey’s father Peter said: "He was jailed for assisting an offender, but there’s assisting an offender who has stolen a car and there’s assisting an offender who has providing the tools to cut up your daughter and helped get rid of the body."
Mitchell Quy was sentenced to life with a minimum of 17 years in prison, for strangling and then dismembering his wife’s body.
He remains in jail for his heinous crime, despite appealing for release.
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