The Merseyside detective who was involved in the investigation into James Bulger's murder has shared the tip-off that helped catch the killers.
Jim Fitzsimmons revealed that CCTV footage from the Strand, in Bootle, was 'really poor' and it wasn't enough to identify Robert Thompson and Jon Venables.
At the time, Jim was a newly-promoted detective inspector on his first shift, when he took over the hunt for the two-year-old two hours after Robert Thompson and Jon Venables, both 10, snatched him in 1993.
At first officers thought Thompson and Venables were 14 to 16 due to the 'really poor' quality of CCTV.
But a day after James’ body was found came an unexpected lead, reports The Mirror.
Retelling his story in a two-part documentary, Jim said: "We got a call from the proprietor of a business called AMEX, he’d got CCTV from his car park, a very grainy image of three youngsters.
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"We could see the difference in Thompson and Venables, and we realised they were much smaller than they’d looked on the shopping centre images.
"That really changed everything. We decided that we include suspects who were a lot younger.
"So when a friend of the Venables family noticed paint on Jon’s coat, we’d already opened our minds to the possibility these boys could be as young as 10."
The two denied being near the shopping centre at the time of the crime.
But their fingerprints were discovered at the Bradfrod and Bingley building society, after the shop manager said he'd seen them playing at the window.
Jim added: "The manager told us two boys had been playing in front of their window."
Speaking about what he saw during the investigation, Jim said it still affects him 28 years on.
He said: "It’s difficult not to think about James and feel sadness for him and his family."
The former officer still believes it was right to try them as adults.
He said: "It’s difficult to have any sympathy for them."
Jim's full interview can be s een in the documentary Lost Boy: The Killing of James Bulger which starts on Channel 5 on Wednesday.
