A dad has described how he will be "haunted forever" after seeing his son get gunned down in their family kitchen.
Michael Rainsford, known as Mikey by his friends, was in his kitchen on April 7, 2020, when two shots were fired through the window of his family home on Harrington Road, Litherland. James Foy, the gunman, and his brother Michael were stood in the front garden when they fired two bullets into the home.
Mikey's dad, Michael Rainsford Sr, and brother tried to keep the 20-year-old alive but told The ECHO he saw as his face drained of colour.
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He said: "We were following their instructions [999 call taker] and I'm trying to give him chest compression while Michael making a lot of noise. As I was giving him the heart compressions I could see his face drain and his eyes roll. That's when he died in front of me and within seconds armed response arrived.
"We didn't know at the time but the whole street was filled with ambulances, police, armed response, I think a helicopter was up at one point as well and we were just trying to save Michael's life. We were put into the living room by an armed officer but you only have to think to a couple of minutes earlier and we were sat watching tele, getting ready for bed.
"Now, my son has died in our hall. I couldn't understand his questions or answer his questions. We were there for about an hour and he asked if we wanted to hear about any updates from the hospital because sometimes bullets can go straight through people without hitting any major organs so I was clinging onto that hope with my hands together praying. Within a few minutes, he said 'I'm sorry, he's dead'.
"Then detectives arrived, took all our phones and laptops and the house was now a murder scene. While all of this is going on, Michael's mum's in bed. She has a number of health problems."
Michael Snr continued: "I had to go upstairs and get Joshua, Jessica and his mum, sit them down on the bed and tell them Michael had been killed. I didn't use the word murdered at that point and I told them I knew nothing else. We all just broke down crying.
"Then they told us all to leave but I didn't want Michael's mum to see the blood on the hall floor with all the paraphernalia they'd used. I blindfolded her and I blindfolded Jessica because I didn't want them to see it and relive the trauma I have to deal with."
In total, five people were sentenced to more than 60 years in connection Michael's murder at Liverpool Crown Court on Friday, March 12 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.
Speaking about the verdict and sentenced to The Mirror, Michael Sr said it was a "very thin piece of relief" as it would never bring his son home.
He said: "Time has stood still for me, my family and Michael’s friends since 11.08pm on Tuesday, April 7 when evil visited our family home. We were there, we witnessed it. The memories don’t go away - they stay with you and they haunt you forever.”
The family moved home months after the shooting because they received death threats.
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."
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