![\"Michael](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/1753027451_761_0_Michael-Rainsford-Snrholding-a-photograph-of-his-sonMikey-Rainsford-Jnrwho-was-shot-dead-at-home.j.jpeg\")
Michael Rainsford Snr, holding a photograph of his son, Mikey Rainsford(Image: Andrew Teebay Liverpool Echo)<\/p>\nMichael Rainsford Snr fought tirelessly for justice after his son’s murder<\/p>\n
16:42, 20 Jul 2025Updated 16:43, 20 Jul 2025<\/p>\n
Michael Rainsford Snr, holding a photograph of his son, Mikey Rainsford(Image: Andrew Teebay Liverpool Echo)<\/p>\n
A dad who campaigned tirelessly for justice after his son’s murder has been hailed as a “hero till the end” following his death. Mikey Rainsford was shot twice while standing in the kitchen of his home on Harrington Road in Litherland<\/a> by brothers James and Michael Foy in a revenge attack for something he had nothing to do with<\/a>.<\/p>\n The Foys, members of the Linacre Young Guns gang, shot Mikey less than an hour after a brick had been thrown through their mum’s window <\/a>on April 7, 2020. Both men were convicted of murder the following year – but Mikey’s dad, Michael Rainsford Snr, repeatedly claimed Merseyside Police had information that tied James Foy to another firearm found by officers during a search of a Bootle home<\/a> in 2019.<\/p>\n Michael provided the ECHO with the police watchdog’s written report earlier this year, which revealed there was no reason why James Foy was not arrested before the murder.<\/p>\n In their written findings, the Independent Office for Police Conduct investigator said: “Having reviewed the available evidence, it is my view that there does not appear to be any reason provided that justifies why the arrest [of James Foy] could not and should not be made prior to the murder.”<\/p>\n The police watchdog investigator added it was their view that a detective “has a case to answer for misconduct…for breach of the standards of professional behaviour for duties and responsibilities”.<\/p>\n Dan Rainsford, Mikey’s brother and the eldest of Michael’s five living children, has now paid tribute to his “hero” dad following his death. The 59-year-old collapsed while in the car outside his friend’s home on the evening of Sunday, July 6.<\/p>\n He was rushed to hospital in an ambulance where they sent him for an urgent brain scan. Doctors found a severe bleed on the brain before he was put in an induced coma. On Thursday, July 10, he was taken off life support surrounded by his family.<\/p>\n Dan said: “He was committed, soft and family-orientated; he was just that kind of guy. He was a genuine person who was very helpful and would always do the right thing for people.”<\/p>\n “It was sudden; he was outside a friend’s house with my brother and step mum in the car and it happened very quick.<\/p>\n “He was pulled out and resuscitated twice and then taken to hospital.<\/p>\n “He was taken straight in for a brain scan, and they found a bleed on the brain. It was irreversible, really; his decline was rapid. His kids were with him when he died.”<\/p>\n Michael was an avid golfing fan and remained family-orientated for his entire life. Dan also explained he will be donating three organs. He said: “He was a hero right until the end.”<\/p>\n Recently he attended the local premiere of Tim Edwards and John May’s film. Tim Edwards’s daughter, Elle Edwards, 26, was murdered in a shooting<\/a> outside the Lighthouse pub in Wallasey<\/a> Village in December 2022.<\/p>\n Michael attended and was photographed in a moving picture with other bereaved parents who have lost their children at the hands of gun and knife crime.<\/p>\n![\"Mikey](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/0_MR-1.jpg\")
Mikey Rainsford(Image: Daily Mirror)<\/p>\n![\"Tim](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/1753027452_441_0_The-Two-of-Us-Premiere-at-The-Light-Cinema-ExperienceNew-BrightonWirralwith-Tim-Edwards-and-John.j.jpeg\")
Tim Edwards (3rd left), with (L-R) Michael Rainsford Snr, Carolyn Cox, Julie Dale, Cheryl Korbel and Joanne Rimmer(Image: Andrew Teebay Liverpool Echo)<\/p>\n