The Liverpool Echo has been praised for the “crucial” role it played in catching the killer of seven-year-old Toni-Ann Byfield.

As gunman Joel Smith was jailed for life for killing Toni-Ann and Bertram Byfield, the man she regarded as her father, the detective who hunted him for three years told Echo readers: “You cracked the case.”

An appeal in the Echo last September prompted a flurry of telephone calls with crucial information which led to Smith’s arrest.

The killing of Toni-Ann and drug dealer Bertram Byfield at a North London flat in September 2003 outraged the nation.

But despite a huge manhut and appeals for information, it was only a chance breakthrough that led police to suspect killer Joel ‘Caine’ Smith was hiding out in Liverpool.

Detective Superintendent Neil Basu, of the Metropolitan Police, then contacted the Echo and the resulting in-paper appeal sparked dozens of calls.

Among them were three inmates at Walton Prison, where Smith was serving time for crimes including GBH and affray, whose evidence led to his arrest for the double murder.

Speaking to the Echo after the verdict, Dept Supt Basu said: “You broke the case. I have absolutely no doubt the appeals run in Merseyside were the difference to catching Joel Smith.

“After the appeals in the Echo, prisoners from Liverpool came forward to us by approaching a prison officer.

“The information they provided was invaluable.”

Deputy editor Andrew Campbell said: “This was a most hideous crime which shocked the nation.

“We are delighted our readers were able to play a role in bringing this monster to justice.”