A member of the gang jailed over the murder of schoolboy Rhys Jones died with a cocktail of drugs in his system, an inquest has found.
His death
Dean Kelly, 31, was found dead in North Ayrshire, Scotland, on 6 April, the Liverpool coroner’s office said.
Kelly, of Majestic Close, Liverpool, was jailed for four years for supplying a fake alibi for Sean Mercer who shot Rhys, aged 11, on 22 August 2007.
How he died
An inquest held on Friday, coroner Andre Rebello said Kelly died at an address in Station Road, Springside, Irvine.
Cause of death
Mr Rebello said a post-mortem examination revealed the cause of death was drugs-related.
The medical cause was intoxication from a combination of drugs, namely cocaine, pregabalin, clonazepam, bromazolam and dihydrocodeine.
How he covered the 2007 murder
Rhys was mistakenly shot dead by Mercer in the car park of the Fir Tree pub in the Croxteth area of the city.
After the killing, he fled the scene by bike to a house where a cover-up plan was hatched involving burning his clothes and petrol poured over his body to remove gun residue.
Kelly then provided Mercer with a fake alibi and was subsequently jailed for assisting an offender.
