James Bulger’s mother has revealed that one of his killers, Jon Venables, may never be free under a planned parole overhaul.
Denise Fergus says Justice Secretary Dominic Raab promised her his Reform Bill would keep Venables, who has reoffended twice, in jail. She said: “It would be historic.”
As she spent yet another heartbreaking Christmas without her son, Denise took comfort from the government plan and from the words of a police forensic psychologist.
Professor Paul Britton, who was on the case in 1993, had recently shared details Denise had never heard before, revealing to her for the first time that he did not think Venables and Robert Thompson’s attack on two-year-old James was sexually motivated.
Prof Britton also told her their age – both were 10 at the time of the killing – was no excuse. They were murderers, plain and simple.
It was Denise’s first conversation with Prof Britton since her son’s murder and, in an exclusive interview with the Mirror, she said: “For 30 years there were lots of details about James’s death that I have wanted to avoid, but I finally felt strong enough to hear it.
He was clear that once Venables and Thompson were named as possible suspects, in the frame, he knew very quickly that they were guilty.
“And whilst others were blind-sided and distracted by the fact that they were such physically small children, which some thought meant that it was impossible they could have committed such a crime, his brain quickly defined them as murderers.
“Just hearing that fact alone, I felt something fundamental shift in me.
“That has been such a block over the years. The excuse that they were ‘only children’ themselves who didn’t deserve the adult labels of ‘murderers’ has always been hard for me to bear.
“Hearing it from someone trained and impartial was an important and healing moment.
“He also told me in no uncertain terms that Venables and Thompson had ‘no proper sexual involvement with James’.
He said James was ‘injured in all sorts of different ways and whilst he might have been injured in a way that would have included, if you like, all of his body, there wasn’t what you would call an adult sexual attack on him’.”
Venables has twice been returned to jail for possessing images of child sex abuse, and Denise said: “While I have no doubt Venables is now a sexual deviant and a massive danger to society, it was a great peace of mind to know that James’s murder was not sexually driven.”
Justice Secretary Dominic Raab also added to her peace of mind when he told her Venables would not walk free again under his proposed new “two strikes and you stay in” policy.
Speaking ahead of the release of her updated autobiography I Let Him Go, Denise told the Mirror: “What we have been promised has made the last 30 years of pushing for James worth it.
“Mr Raab has told me straightforwardly that under his new legislation it would basically be a case of ‘two strikes and you stay in prison’ .
“That would apply to the three most serious types of criminals –paedophiles, child killers and terrorists. There would not be endless chances at rehabilitating anyone who had committed this type of crime.
“And that meant, under Raab’s planned new law, Venables would never see the light of day.
“I feel hopeful for the first time in 30 years that this could become law and we’d have justice for James and for future potential victims.
“It would be historic.”
Speaking for the first time about the meeting with Mr Raab last summer in his office at Westminster, Denise, 54, said: “In that meeting I was hearing words I’d always wanted to hear. His lips were moving, but I couldn’t hear it all because I never believed I would hear those words.
“The words that under his plans, Venables would never walk free again.
“I didn’t think this day would ever come. I froze.”
February 12 will be the 30th anniversary of James’s murder by Venables and Thompson after the two boys had snatched him from a shopping centre in Bootle, Liverpool, an abduction captured on CCTV.
They were convicted of murder in November 1993 and detained indefinitely, but released, aged 18, in 2001 and given new identities after spending just eight years in young offender institutions.
Thompson, 39, has not reoffended, but Venables was sent back to jail in 2010 and 2017 after being caught with child sex abuse images on his PC.
He was turned down for parole in 2020 after serving his minimum 40 months’ sentence, but has made a new bid for freedom.
A report earlier this year suggested Venables, 40, could be up for parole as early as this month, something which Denise’s parole sources have told her is not true.
Denise, who lives in the North-West with husband Stuart, is confident that, contrary to the reports, Venables has “no imminent” chance of release. And if Mr Raab’s plans go ahead, he will stay in jail for the rest of his life.
She said: “It’s the first Christmas I’ve had when I haven’t had to worry about the new year coming in and news of Venables coming out and wandering round a free man.
“I feel that after a rollercoaster 30 years, this year could be our best yet thanks to promises we have been made.”
She admits that she initially went into the meeting with Mr Raab with scepticism, given that she had dealt with empty promises from MPs before.
He had just announced his Reform Bill, which includes plans for a radical overhaul in the parole system, something which they now hope to get passed in the House of Commons in the next 12 months.
Denise said: “I was nervous. I suppose that’s what 30 years of being ignored will do to you. The pressure of finally getting to that room and seeing the thick folders piled up on his desk, my son’s case notes there in front of me with handwritten annotation alongside pictures of Raab’s children, suddenly all got too much.
“But when he told me that Venables would not be going free under his plans, a weight lifted. I haven’t wanted to share that until now. He knew all about James and the subsequent twists and turns of my fight.”
Gordon Davison, Public Protection Group Director of HM Prison and Probation Service was also in the meeting.
Denise said: “In the past, the truth is that I feel they only ever told me anything to do with James’ killers when they had lost control of the narrative, for example when others had found out something that I should have known about James’s killers.
“But since that meeting we have had more unsolicited communication from his probation team, keeping us up to date than from anyone else the whole time, which makes me feel more heard.
“For years, my issue has been that Venables and Thompson, despite the horrific things they have done, have held all the cards. They know the road I live on, the house number. The justice system was upside down.
“Now I feel that balance has been slightly addressed.”
Denise admitted feeling “crushed” when Liz Truss sacked Mr Raab and scrapped his plans on the day she became the country’s short-lived Prime Minister, before he was reinstated by current PM Rishi Sunak a month later.
She also told how she would never forgive Venables and Thompson.
Denise said: “I know they’ll ask me, ‘will you forgive me?’ And I know my answer will be ‘never’.
“The only time I think about those two now is if I’ve really got to. Otherwise, I don’t.
“It’s not about them any more. It’s about justice for James and any other potential victim out there.
“There is not a chance I’d ever write to them or want to ever see them.
“I would feel like they were laughing at me. It would only be to put their minds at rest.
“Why would I do that after all that they’ve done to us?
“To have one of them locked up indefinitely, which seems likely at the moment, would be brilliant justice for James and save other families from the grief we have endured.” But with the 30th anniversary of his passing less than a month away, Denise, who remarried after splitting from James’s dad Ralph, is now a grandmother, and still has golden memories of her beloved James.
Denise, who says she will mark the anniversary with the family at James’s grave, said: “Every time I think about him it’s in a positive way.
“I’m not thinking about how he was taken any more.
“He was a hilarious little boy. I remember I used to give him chipsticks as a snack in the old flat where we lived.
“When I came back in the room one time, he had thrown these chipsticks against the curtain like darts and he was just laughing his head off.
“I can still hear that laugh. I also vividly remember asking him in the morning what he wanted for breakfast and he would say, ‘Frosties’ but he would drag the ‘e’ like ‘Frostieeeees’.
“They were his favourite. It still makes me smile. I think of him every time I see them. He’ll always be my beautiful, cheeky boy.”
I Let Him Go by Denise Fergus, published by John Blake Publishing, on e-book, audiobook and paperback from January 19.
