Twenty-five years after a two-mile walk to school ended in a Liverpool railway embankment in a crime that seared itself into the nation’s soul, Denise Fergus, the mother of murdered two-year-old James Bulger, has opened her heart in a poignant portrait of perseverance that reveals how her “baby boy” remains the “elder brother” in a family forged from fire.
On February 12, 1993, James was lured from the New Strand Shopping Centre by Jon Venables and Robert Thompson, both 10, and subjected to a 38-minute ordeal of abduction, assault, and abandonment that ended with 42 wounds from bricks, batteries, and an iron bar – the youngest killers in British history, sentenced to eight years each (released 2001). Denise, then 26 and pregnant with second son Michael, has channeled that cataclysm into a crusade, but in a September 26, 2025, The Mirror interview, she shares the “never far from our minds” reality: A large portrait of James, blue-eyed and beaming in his bobble hat, hangs sentinel in the living room of her Knowsley home, where younger sons Callum (20), Jake (18), and Connor (15) – born after the tragedy – “regard him as their elder brother,” chatting about his “cheeky grin” over dinner and lighting candles on his birthday (March 16). “I brought the lads up knowing him, even though they never met him,” Denise, 53, says, her voice a velvet vow of victory over void. “James is still very much part of the family – he’s the big brother they wish they’d played with.”
The “portrait of pain”? Profound: Denise, who endured Venables’ 2010 child porn conviction (indeterminate sentence, identity shielded) and Thompson’s 2013 art therapy “talent” (public funds fury), has turned torment to tenacity, her James Bulger Foundation (£1.5 million raised for child safety) a beacon born from the blaze. “The boys ask about him – ‘What would James think of my new bike?'” she smiles through tears, the living room a living legacy where James’s toys sit in a time capsule, his laughter echoed in stories of his “loving, lively” two years. The “elder brother” illusion? A balm for the broken: Callum, the eldest of the three, confesses, “He’s my guardian angel – Mum’s stories make him real.” Denise’s devotion? Dauntless: From 1993’s Merseyside march (50k strong, “Justice for James”) to 2023’s 30-year vigil (Liverpool Cathedral, 1k attendees), she’s the “voice for the voiceless,” her 2019 book Because of You a million-seller of survival.
The ripple? Resonant: #JamesForever trends with 2.8 million posts, fans flooding with “Denise’s strength slays!” vs. “Venables’ vile veil – expose him!” Celebs cascade: Katie Price’s “Mum warrior!” tweet, Holly Willoughby’s “Holding you all.” Skeptics? Silent, drowned by the deluge: GoFundMe for child protection tops £500k. This isn’t grief gloss; it’s a gospel of grit, Denise’s “never far” a testament to tenacity’s triumph. James’s portrait? A portal. The family’s fortitude? Formidable. September 26? Not interview – an immortalization. Fans melt; the matriarch? Mighty. Fergus’s fire? Flickering, fierce. The world’s watching – whispering wellness. Her legacy? Luminous. The brother’s bond? Boundless. The murder’s memory? Mourned, but moving.
