The father of a 20-year-old who was shot dead at home broke down in court as he remembered the agonising ordeal of blindfolding his wife from seeing her lifeless son.
Michael Rainsford was gunned down on Tuesday April 7 2020 by two bullets fired through a kitchen window of the Harrington Road home he shared with his family.
His father, Michael Rainsford Snr, told Liverpool Crown Court he witnessed his son “being shot and murdered,” changing the family in a “split second.”
As ambulance services fought to save the young boy’s life, Mr Rainsford said he and Michael’s brother, Josh, guided his wife and the boy’s sister “down the stairs blindfolded.”
Mr Rainsford told the court they did this so they “did not witness the trauma of seeing Michael’s blood on our family hall floor,” LiverpoolEcho reported.
In a statement, Michael’s heartbroken father said: “In a split second our family life was broken and changed forever.
“I witnessed it. The night-time silence was broken by the violence of the two bullets ripping through our kitchen window in our family home and I witnessed my son being shot and murdered.
“The first bullet hit Michael, the second bullet also hit Michael as he tried to run past where I was standing.
“The second bullet was either meant for the moving Michael or possibly me as I was standing right where Michael was hit for the second time.”
He added: “The last task Josh [Michael’s brother] and myself undertook was to guide Michael’s mum and sister down the stairs blindfolded.
“This was so they did not witness the trauma of seeing Michael’s blood on our family hall floor.
“Whatever lay in our family’s collective future or over the horizon will never be ours as all our memories that were yet to be made have been destroyed forever by the senseless, barbaric murder of my son.”
Brothers James Foy, 19, and Michael Foy 22, were convicted of murder over the attack, with James admitting he was the gunman after denying involvement in the shooting.
James was jailed for life with a minimum of 28 years after also being convicted of possession of a gun found in a Bootle home in 2019.
Michael was jailed for life with a minimum of 30 years.
Joyce Smith, 46, the boy’s mum, was sentenced to 30 months behind bars for perverting the course of justice.
Craig Johnson, 39, was also convicted of perverting the course of justice, and was jailed for three years. A neighbour, Andrea Sanderson, 48, was found guilty of the same crime and was handed 18 months suspended for two years.