“Come forward before we knock on your door”
Detective Chief Inspector Steve McGrath from Merseyside Police(Image: Andrew Teebay Liverpool Echo)
The senior detective investigating the case of a 19 year-old who was shot dead has said he is confident the police know who is responsible for the murder. Ellis Cox, 19, was killed by the Liverpool Loop Line, known locally as the Ralla, near Taskers on the Liver Industrial estate on June 23 last year.
Detectives have made five arrests in connection with the murder of Ellis but no-one has been charged. The teenager was cycling with four other people when they were approached by “one to three males on two electric bikes” at around 10.50pm.
One of the group on the electric bikes opened fire, sending three shots towards Ellis and the people he was with. Ellis, who was fleeing on a pedal bike, was shot in the back.
Ellis’s family believe people who have key information about his death are choosing to stay silent and preventing his killers from being brought to justice. They launched a fresh appeal alongside Merseyside Police this weekend as today would have been Ellis’s 21st birthday.
In a new update, Detective Chief Inspector Steve McGrath, the senior investigating officer working on the case, said he is confident the force knows who is responsible for Ellis’s murder but they need more information to move the investigation forward.
Speaking on the Ralla, a few minutes away from where Ellis was shot dead, DCI McGrath said: “After 18 months of an investigation, I’m quite satisfied that we know the reasons behind this incident and why it’s occurred.
“I’ve got a strong belief that we know the people who are responsible for this and the people who are involved in these sorts of criminal disputes, and I would just appeal to those people who are close to them to come forward.
“We will have further arrests to make in relation to this investigation, I have no doubt about that. I would appeal to people who are close to these individuals to come forward before we come and knock on your door.”
DCI McGrath previously told the ECHO the murder is likely linked to tensions between two criminal gangs operating in the Rice Lane and Walton area.
Ellis had no links to crime but his associates have links to “street level drug dealing in the local area”.
There was little to indicate anything unusual was happening in Ellis’ life shortly before he died. He had his long hair cut short and, in terms of socialising, he’d normally go around to the house of a family member or a friend.
Going out with a different group of friends on a bike ride was a change for him but it didn’t worry the family. Their main anxiety was Ellis falling off his bike.
Detective Chief Inspector Steve McGrath from Merseyside Police and Ellis Cox’s mum Carolyn Cox(Image: Andrew Teebay Liverpool Echo)
The detective has now warned that it’s not just those directly responsible for Ellis’s murder that the police are looking to bring to justice.
He said: “I believe that the people who were with Ellis on the night have been involved in what I would describe as street level criminality, and I think that’s why this incident has happened.
“Again, those inquiries are ongoing, but it’s given us a real good understanding about the reasons behind why Ellis was murdered and those involved.
“So we are looking at a group of people who I believe have been in dispute with some of the males that Ellis was with that night over the period of potentially 18 months and I think that’s led to obviously the incident which has led to Ellis’s death.
“As part of our investigation, we’re not just focused on those directly responsible for the murder. We will be looking for those who’ve assisted before and after the murder, any sort of assistance that’s been given to the offenders in relation to any planning or the commission of the murder, and also any help that they’ve been given after the murder, in order to evade justice.”
Although some have come forward with information about what happened, DCI McGrath said it is proving challenging to get those people to go through the official process.
A photograph of Ellis Cox at his family home in Walton 18 months after he was shot dead(Image: )
He said: “We have had information from the public and I believe that some of the information that we’ve got from members of the public relate to those who I strongly suspect are responsible for Ellis’s murder.
“What I would say is there is a reluctance for people to come forward to give evidence and go through the criminal justice process, and I understand that.
“We are talking about a murder investigation here, and people do feel potentially that they could also become under threat. We have dealt with cases like this before.
“We’ve dealt with people who have come forward before and we’ve provided them with sufficient support and protection in order to give them the confidence to go through the criminal justice system.
“As I say, we’ve done it before and I’m confident we can do it again, and to people who have sufficient information that would lead us or provide us to uncover evidence that would help support the prosecution, I would ask them to come forward and I’d like to give them the confidence that we would support them and we would protect them when we do go through this process.”
DCI McGrath added that it’s also about intel people have heard in the 18 months since the murder, not just information about what happened on the night it happened.
CrimeStoppers appeal on the waterfront for information about the killing of Ellis Cox(Image: )
He said: “We’ve got a Crimestoppers reward for £20,000, which is ongoing at the moment, so there’s the option or the ability really to provide that information anonymously.
“I would really ask for people to come forward and provide us with witness statements in relation to this investigation and also to assist us to go through the court process.
“This weekend, it would’ve been Ellis’s 21st birthday, and that’s really the reason why we’re making this appeal.
“I do appreciate that those who may have the type of information that we are looking for are probably going to be close to our offenders and I would just ask them to think about people who are close to them.
“I just ask people to search their conscience and come forward. What’s happened has happened, what people have actually been involved with, they’ve actually committed this offense.
“For that reason, we need to make sure that this doesn’t happen again to any other person but also it’s important for the family that they get some justice.”
Another gun connected to nearby turf wars has been seized, although the hunt to find the pistol that killed Ellis continues. The ECHO reported in 2024 that the gun used to murder Ellis, a self-loading pistol, was also used in a separate shooting at a flat on Willowdale Road, Walton. The gun has not been recovered.
Ellis Cox appeal poster on Rice Lane, near the Liverpool Loop Line(Image: Liverpool Echo)
DCI McGrath sought to reassure the public that Merseyside Police are doing everything it can to ensure murders like this are not repeated.
He said: “Instances like this are very rare, and normal people just going about their day-to-day business, I would suggest particularly think of these incidents. I don’t think there’s a climate of fear or anything along those lines where people are conscious of it on a day-to-day basis.
“But what I would say is, it is important really to make sure that people who do commit this type of criminality don’t continue to do it.
“We want to make our streets safer. We want to make sure our communities are safer and unfortunately, sometimes people need to stand up and make that happen and assist us as the police to effectively prosecute people in circumstances like this.”
You can visit a dedicated web page to submit information or footage which can help in the investigation of Ellis’s murder: https://mipp.police.uk/operation/05MP23M53-PO1.
You can also contact Merseyside Police via social media @MerPolCC or call 101 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111 quoting reference 24000554719.