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Mother 'all over the place' after Bulger killer's jail recall

John Fahey,Press Association
Monday 08 March 2010 12:47 GMT

James Bulger's mother said today that she was "all over the place" after her son's killer was recalled to prison.

Speaking in her first television interview since news broke of Jon Venables' recall to jail, Denise Fergus demanded answers over the claims surrounding him.

Speaking on ITV's This Morning, the toddler's mother said of the revelation last week: "It has been up and down, I have been very emotional. My head has been all over the place. I don't know what he has done.

"I don't know whether he has gone on to kill someone else.

"I have had sleepless nights and I am not eating again - I have had to pull my kids out of school.

"It is just one massive rollercoaster again for me.

"And I can't believe that they are putting me through this."

Venables and Robert Thompson, both just 10 at the time, snatched James from the Strand shopping centre in Bootle, Liverpool in 1993.

They walked him more than two miles to a railway line where they beat him to death and left his body on the tracks to be hit by a train.

The pair were released on life licence in 2001.

Since news broke last week of Venables's parole breach, numerous allegations have surfaced including Venables returning to Merseyside.

Speaking to Phillip Schofield and co-presenter Holly Willoughby, Mrs Fergus said she was told in 2001 she would be informed of any breaches.

She said: "I was told that if any of them broke their terms I would be told straightaway.

"Now I believe that that is not the case.

"If these allegations that are reported in the papers are true, then this has been going on in the nine years of their release.

"And why wasn't I told that he had been doing these things?"

Mrs Fergus, supported on screen by her husband Stuart, said she found out about Venables' recall last Tuesday when officials visited her home in Kirkby, Merseyside.

But, despite her best efforts, none of her questions have been answered.

She said: "Any question I have asked them, I have had no answers and it's about time now I got some answers.

"I am sick of them closing doors in my face.

"It's about time they started telling me what I think I should know.

"As James's mother I have a right to know."

She said that, if Venables is charged and tried, she would like to be in court to see it.

But she did not believe that would be allowed and details surrounding Venables and Thompson would always be "covered up".

"The Government just don't know how to handle this now," she added.

"Because this is so big again, the Government are just treating it like a football, kicking it to one another."

Despite being desperate for information about Venables, the mother-of-three said she did not want to jeopardise any potential legal proceedings against the killer.

Mr Straw will be answering an urgent question on Venables in the Commons at 15.30.

Leader of the Commons Harriet Harman warned that care must be taken not to prejudice any possible future court proceedings involving Venables.

She told Sky News: "What we don't want to do is have a situation where the judge says 'I'm going to throw out this case because there's been so much speculation that this person can never get a fair trial'."

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