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James Bulger murder: Brother says killers 'will never be forgiven' 30 years on

James Bulger was just two when he was murdered by two boys. Amid speculation that one of them - Jon Venables - could soon get a parole hearing, James's brother joins calls for him to be kept behind bars.

Sunday 12 February 2023 01:49, UK

James Bulger was two when he was murdered after being abducted by Robert Thompson and Jon Venables.
Image: James Bulger died on 12 February 1993
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The brother of murdered James Bulger has said he will never forgive the toddler's killers.

James was two years old on 12 February 1993 when he was abducted from a shopping centre in Bootle, Merseyside, by two boys then known as Jon Venables and Robert Thompson.

His body was found on a railway line, after he had been beaten to death with bricks and a metal bar.

Speaking before today's anniversary of the murder, Michael Fergus - who was born eight months after his brother's death - said the two killers "robbed me of my childhood".

Mr Fergus, 29, "My brother's killers will never be forgiven.

"They took away my older brother who I never got to meet.

"I would have loved to have looked up to him, asked him questions, talked to him about exams, cars, going to bars, normal stuff.

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"But because of those two, I never got the chance.

"They robbed me of my childhood, in a nutshell."

A photograph of murdered two-year-old James Bulger lies beside the hundreds of flowers at the spot where his body was found in Walton, Liverpool. 19 Feb 1993
Image: The scene near where James's body was found in 1993
James Bulger seen on CCTV being led away before his murder
Image: James Bulger seen on CCTV being led away before he was killed

Mr Fergus, a landscape gardener living in northwest England, said that "justice for James" would mean "keeping Venables behind bars" to provide "peace of mind" for the family, particularly their mother.

Venables and Thompson were jailed for life but were released on licence with new identities in 2001.

Venables, 40, was sent back to prison in 2010 and 2017 for possessing indecent images of children, and was refused parole in 2020.

Denise Fergus, the mother of murdered toddler James Bulger, outside the Old Bailey in London, after one of his killers, Jon Venables, has been jailed at the Old Bailey for 40 months after he admitted having more than a thousand indecent images of children and a child abuse manual.
Image: Denise Fergus, the mother of James

In December, The Sun reported that he could have another parole hearing early this year, quoting sources as saying that he has a "strong chance" of going free because of his "positive" progress in jail.

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But in January, Denise Fergus - mother of James - said Justice Secretary Dominic Raab had promised the killer would remain in jail under his proposed new "two strikes and you stay in" policy.

The Ministry of Justice has said that Mr Raab will "do everything in his power to keep dangerous offenders behind bars and has set out plans to overhaul the parole process and put victims at the heart of the process".