'My son was five minutes from home when he was killed'

A man who was shot dead at an industrial estate had told his mum he would be "home in five minutes", just before he was killed.

Ellis Cox, 19, was found critically injured by gunshot wounds on the Liver Industrial Estate in Aintree, Sefton, on 23 June just after 22:10 BST.

He died a short time later in hospital.

Speaking for the first time since his death, his mum Carolyn told how her son had phoned her moments before he was shot, and asked her to "warm up his tea".

"He was so close to home," she said.

"I'd just finished a phone call to him and he said, 'Mum, I will be five minutes' and to warm his tea."

Merseyside Police launched a murder inquiry but two months on no-one has yet been charged over Mr Cox's killing.

Carolyn said she was "so angry" that whoever shot her son thought "they can take a life as precious as Ellis's for nothing".

"He was genuinely a very good boy. He was amazing. What gives these people the right to go round with guns taking children," she said.

"Parents shouldn't have to bury their children.

"And he was so close to home. He was literally five minutes from home".

Merseyside Police believe Mr Cox was shot with a self-loading pistol as he made his way home through the industrial estate after going to Southport with friends.

Carolyn said: "I keep hoping to hear him singing in the shower like he did every day after work or laughing on his PlayStation or saying, 'Mum, I'm hungry, mum I'm hungry'.

"I just keep having to tell myself that he's in work and he'll be back soon because he said he would be five minutes."

Ellis's aunt Julie O'Toole said the family have been left with many "unanswered questions" but had "every faith in the police".

She said: "I think the only thing we can do now for Ellis is make sure that people don't forget and that we want to make sure that whoever has took him from us is brought forward and that justice is served.

"There just seems to be this mentality that people don't speak up, this 'we don't grass' mentality even from the people who he was with that night, these people who he'd only known a few weeks".

Detectives said Mr Cox had borrowed a bike from a family member at about 17:00 on the day he died and made his way to Aintree station where he met the friends.

They believe the group then travelled towards Southport and Mr Cox spent time in Ormskirk before cycling back home with the same group.

Det Ch Ins Steve McGrath of Merseyside Police appealed to anyone who had seen groups on the loopline between Walton Hall Avenue and Rice Lane in the weeks running up to the Ellis's death to get in touch.

"You might hold a vital piece of information that we need in order to identify who is responsible for this," he said.

Anyone with any information is being urged to contact the force.

Listen to the best of BBC Radio Merseyside on Sounds and follow BBC Merseyside on Facebook, X, and Instagram. You can also send story ideas to [email protected]