James Bulger's brothers have spoken out on how their mum, Denise Fergus, lived in fear of them being abducted like their brother James.
The Mirror Online reports that James' brother Michael, 27, and two half-brothers Thomas, 22 and Leon, 21, have shared their mother's pain in a new Channel 5 documentary, Lost Boy: The Killing of James Bulger.
The new show includes details of the hunt to find two-year-old James from police officers involved in the case, and unreleased tapes of police interviews with his killers, 10-year-olds Jon Venables and Robert Thompson.
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Speaking ahead of the film airing tonight, Leon explained how growing up their mum "wanted to know where we were at all times" as "every day" she lived in fear of them being abducted and killed like James.
Leon said: “Growing up like, if we were like walking round a shop and that, she’d (Denise) always make sure she was at the back so she can walk us forward in front of her. She wanted to know where we were at all times.”
Thomas continued: “It’s horrible to say but she doesn’t want that to happen again. She doesn’t want us to go out anywhere, cos obviously that will always be in the back of her head, every day.
"And obviously, it’s scary to think that it could—it could have happened again. You’re gonna be over-protective aren’t you when something like that happens in your life, I think.”
The two-part documentary will look at the abduction and murder of two-year-old James by Jon Venables and Robert Thompson in February 1993.
The shocking crime horrified the nation after the two boys snatched toddler James away from his mother at a Bootle shopping centre before leading him to his death.
James’ body was found two days after the boys, who were playing truant from school, snatched him from his mum as she was shopping in a Bootle butchers.
The toddler died on a railway embankment after suffering 42 injuries.
James’s mum Denise, who split from husband Ralph in 1993 shortly after having Michael, and went on to marry second husband Stuart Fergus, with whom she shares Thomas and Leon, says that although 28 years have passed the pain is still unbearable.
She said: “I was holding his hand and within seconds of me reaching for my purse to pay for some chops at the butcher’s he’d gone.
"I shouldn’t have let go of his hand.
"It’s hard for me to say, but it’s the truth.
“If there’s such a thing as closure, I don’t think I’ll get it any time soon. At this moment in time, I don’t see closure.
“He’ll never be forgotten by us. Every single day, even after all these years, I miss him. Every single day without James, he’s missed.”
Lost Boy: The Killing of James Bulger will air at 9pm on Channel 5, on Wednesday and Thursday.
