James Bulger’s mother has slammed Channel 4’s documentary that ‘sympathised’ with his killers as she released previously unseen photos of her murdered two-year-old son.
ITV viewes will tonight see Bulger’s mother Denise Fergus discuss the crime that shocked the nation, her attempts to find justice and learning to forgive herself in an interview with Trevor McDonald to mark the 25th anniversary of the toddler’s death.
During the interview Mrs Fergus unveiled previously unseen photos of herself and her child prior to his brutal death.
During the interview on ITV Mrs Fergus reveals previously unseen pictures of her child in happier times
Denise Fergus has shared photos of herself and her son James, before he was tragically murdered
The 50-year-old mother to three more sons said: ‘What I want to do is turn something so negative, that happened to James, into something positive.’
But her appearance on ITV’s James Bulger: A Mother’s Story comes amid a wave of outrage following Channel 4’s controversial documentary ‘The Bulger Killers: Was Justice Done?’ that aired on Monday night.
Writing on Twitter Mrs Fergus said: ‘Just to let you know that even though footage was used of me on the Channel 4 programme, I had no part in it. My documentary is on Thursday on ITV with Sir Trevor McDonald.’
Jon Venables and Robert Thompson were just 10 years old when they brutally murdered the toddler in a crime that shocked Britain in February 1993.
The pair were Britain’s youngest killers for 250 years and remain only two of six people with lifetime anonymity in the country.
The C4 documentary featured interviews with the killers’ defence solicitors, prosecutors and journalists who covered the case – but many watching took exception to the suggestion that the boys were too young to face trial at the age of 10.
Laurence Lee, Venables’ solicitor, and Dominic Lloyd, who defended Thompson during the trial at Preston Crown Court, gave their opinions on the case on the show.
Mr Lloyd discussed his attempt to get the trial thrown out after he argued that the boys could not have a fair trial because the jury had been prejudiced following media reports.
In an interview marking the 25th anniversary of his death, Ms Fergus tells how she wants to cherish precious memories of her son and back a charity in his name
Ms Fergus hopes to send out a message of hope with James Bulger: A Mother’s Story
Ms Fergus’ upcoming ITV special on James Bulger has been overshadowed by Channel 4’s documentary accused of sympathising with the toddler’s killers
James Bulger was abducted and taken to a railway line to be tortured by Jon Venables and Robert Thompson
The 1993 murder of James (pictured) led to an outpouring of public grief and shock
He said the boys would not have been prosecuted if they would have committed the crime a few months earlier because the age of criminality in England is 10.
Mr Lloyd said: ‘If this offence happened a few months earlier it would not have been possible to prosecute Robert and Jon.
‘They were just over the age where you can be prosecuted and I think in that type of case that has to be weighed down firmly in favour of rehabilitation.
‘To do the contrary is to effectively condemn them to life at 10 years of age. Not something I’m comfortable with at all.’
Meanwhile, journalist Blake Morrison, who covered the trial for the New Yorker, spoke about his realisation that the defendants were just ‘two small boys’.
Jon Venables (left) and Robert Thompson (right) were just 10 years old when they carried out one of the most infamous murders in British criminal history
The haunting CCTV image shows James Bulger walking hand-in-hand in the Merseyside shopping centre with his killer
Police search the train track where James Bulger’s body was found in 1993
He said: ‘To look at them in the court room to hear them on tapes was to realise that they were small boys, however disturbed, they were small boys.
‘It hardened my feelings that we should not be treating children in the same way we treat our adults and however we judge their crimes.
‘We should not do it in the way it was done in the Bulger case.’
His comment led to anger from viewers who felt he was sympathising with the boys who tortured and killed the toddler after abducting him from the Strand Shopping Centre in Bootle, Merseyside.
Jamie Bulger, pictured, was killed 25 years ago next week. The tale of two 10-year-olds killing the two-year-old shocked the nation
The boys were convicted of brutally murdering two-year-old James after abducting him from a shopping centre in Bootle, Merseyside, in February 1993.
The judge described the murder as an act of ‘unparalleled evil and brutality’ and the two youngsters were both handed eight-year sentences.
But the programme was slammed by some viewers on Twitter who were perplexed some people on the show appeared to defend the boys.