Son's birthday is 'painful reminder of his murder'

The mother of a young man whose sub-machine gun murder remains unsolved said his birthday has become a "painful reminder of his absence".

Sam Rimmer was 22 when he was killed in the Dingle area of Liverpool at 23:40 BST on 16 August 2022.

Detectives believe he was not the intended target of the gunman, who was thought to have been one of four men on the back of two electric bikes.

His mother, Joanne Rimmer, shares the same birthday as her son, who would have turned 26 on 6 January.

She said: "This year is a day that was always intended to be a joyful joint celebration of my 50th birthday and Sam's own.

"There will now be no celebration - only a quiet day that the family and I hope will pass as gently and quickly as possible.

"Sam's birthday will forever be a painful reminder of his absence and the devastating loss felt by those who loved him."

Since the shooting, 10 people have been arrested in relation to Sam Rimmers's death.

Some of those suspects are serving prison sentences for unrelated crimes, but no-one has been charged in connection with the murder.

Merseyside Police believe Sam Rimmer had been visiting friends in Lavrock Bank, a cul-de-sac in Dingle.

Det Ch Insp Steve McGrath has said that while he was not involved in the Dingle drug scene, his associates that night "were linked to criminal behaviour around localised drug dealing".

He said there had been a series of violent incidents in the Dingle area in the weeks leading up to the killing.

Detectives believe the killers were part of a group who had spent a number of hours "doing laps" of the area on electric bikes searching for rivals.

McGrath has said previously that the investigation team believes the killers lured Sam Rimmer's friends out of a property by making some kind of noise.

At least eight shots were fired towards the group, one of which struck him in the back and exited through his chest.

While no-one else was injured, some of the other bullets struck residential houses.

The weapon was established to be a Skorpion sub-machine gun, a Czech-made weapon capable of firing repeated shots in a fraction of a second.

McGrath said: "Sam's family and friends will miss him every day, but special occasions such as birthdays will always be particularly difficult and we will certainly be thinking of them today on what would have been Sam's 26th birthday.

"Let me be clear, the investigation into Sam's murder is ongoing and we remain determined to find the people responsible."

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