THE MURDER OF JAMES BULGER 30 YEARS ON

It was a crime that shocked the nation but the question remains, how could two children kill an innocent toddler?

This week marks 30 years since two-year-old James Bulger was abducted and murdered by two 10-year-old boys, Jon Venables

and Robert Thompson. James would be in his 30s now. Would he be married? A father? With a career? All that was snatched away from him in February 1993. Woman’s Own looks back at the crime, so abhorrent, it has haunted the nation ever since.

What happened?

When Denise Fergus nipped to a shopping centre in Bootle, Merseyside, on 12 February 1993, it was a day like any other. Normally she took the buggy, but this time she held the hand of her two-year-old son, James, and allowed him to walk.

Before heading home, she popped inside a butcher’s shop to pick up some chops for dinner. At the counter, she let go of James’ hand for a single moment. ‘Stay there,’ she said, as she reached into her handbag to retrieve her purse.

When Denise looked up, James had vanished. Stepping outside, she called out for her son, and in a split-second decision, she turned left, retracing her steps and desperately hoping to catch

up with him. But James had turned right. Police were called, but as night fell, there was no sign of James. Denise was hysterical. At the police station, she met James’