A MAN who was jailed for his part in covering up the murder of tragic Liverpool schoolboy Rhys Jones has been sentenced after driving dangerously in Inveresk.

Dean Kelly lost control of a stolen Volkswagen Polo in the village and crashed the vehicle into a garden wall, causing thousands of pounds’ of damage.

Kelly, 28, lost control of the car as he negotiated a left-hand bend and smashed into the wall, causing £3,400 worth of damage on March 3 this year.

Witnesses said they saw Kelly in the driver’s seat after the vehicle had come to a stop about 50 metres from the site of the impact.

Edinburgh Sheriff Court was told that Kelly, originally from Croxteth, Liverpool, was serving a 10-year driving ban at the time of the crash.

The court heard as a result of that conviction he had no valid licence or insurance for the vehicle, which had been stolen previously from an Edinburgh home by an unknown person.

Kelly was previously handed an anti-social behaviour order (ASBO) last year banning him from entering East Lothian by police.

At the time, detectives said he had links to “acts of violence and intimidation, including the use of weapons and drug dealing”.

Kelly is currently serving a 12-month jail sentence for breaching the ASBO and he was handed a concurrent eight-month prison term for driving offences at the Capital court last Wednesday.

Sheriff Adrian Cottam also issued a further concurrent six-year driving ban, despite Kelly already being banned from the road for 10 years.

During his appearance in the dock from custody, he pleaded guilty to seven road offences and to one charge of failing to give police officers his details.

The court was also told that Kelly drove on the wrong side of the A1 during a police chase near to Newcraighall two weeks after the Inveresk incident.

Kelly drove a stolen vehicle into oncoming cars on the busy road as he raced away from police who had attempted to flag him down. He was spotted driving erratically near to a McDonald’s takeaway near to Newcraighall at about 4.40am on March 19.

Officers attempted to pull him over but he sped off up a slip road and drove onto the opposite side of the carriageway on the A1.

Police were forced to call off the chase due to the dangerous nature of the pursuit and Kelly escaped capture.

Although it was early in the morning, the court was told that there were “other vehicles” on the road heading in his direction and he had “complete disregard” for the road users’ safety.

Kelly was part of the ‘Croxteth Crew’ gang, a member of which gunned down 11-year-old Rhys Jones as the schoolboy walked home from playing football in 2007.

Kelly was jailed for four years in 2009 for assisting murderer and fellow gang member Sean Mercer by hiding the gun in his loft following the brutal shooting. Mercer was sentenced to a minimum of 22 years in prison after he shot and fatally wounded Rhys in August 2007.

Mercer was just 16 at the time of the shooting, which took place during a battle with a rival gang outside a Liverpool pub.

And in March 2017, Kelly, along with fellow gang member James Yates, who supplied the gun used to kill Rhys, were both cleared of involvement in a Scottish drug ring after witnesses refused to identify the pair.