'SICK TO MY STOMACH'
James Bulger’s mum Denise Fergus tells of moment she heard Jon Venables’ voice for the first time in 25 years after he murdered her boy
JAMES Bulger’s mother has told how she felt sick to her stomach at hearing her son’s killer speak for the first time in a quarter of a century.
Denise Fergus was in court in February this year as Jon Venables pleaded guilty to possessing a more than a thousand indecent images of children.
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In an updated version of her memoir I Let Him Go, , the 50-year-old recalls the moment she learnt Venables was facing a trail.
She wrote: “I couldn’t believe it – after 25 years, was I really about to face my son’s killer?
“Deep down I knew it wouldn’t happen – how could I ever be allowed in the same room as him?”
But, when it came to it Venables addressed the court via video link.
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Denise wrote that: “Hearing his voice ringing out around the court made me feel sick to my stomach.
“In my opinion, it was yet another example of the system protecting him at all costs and putting his comfort first – of course he didn’t want to face me; that didn’t mean he shouldn’t have to.”
Venables was sentenced to 40 months behind bars after pleading guilty at the Old Bailey.
The killer admitted owning a sick paedophile manual which contained instructions on how to “have sex with little girls".
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He also admitted to using the dark web — an encrypted corner of the internet reached only through special browsers — “for quite some time”.
The 35-year-old was recalled to prison last November after he was caught with the material.
Venables, who was just ten when he and pal Robert Thompson killed James Bulger in 1993, was regarded as a high-risk sex offender and had been banned from going online.
The pair were released under licence with new identities in 2001.
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But Venables was recalled to prison in 2010 after being found with 57 indecent images of children.
He had distributed a further 45 pictures and was later sentenced to two years in prison.
It emerged he received a police caution in 2015 after being caught using the internet although sources said there was no evidence he did so for illegal purposes.
James Bulger killer Jon Venables charged over indecent images of children
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The court heard Venables, now 35, told police: “This is my own fault. I’ve let people down again. I’ve had stupid urges, inquisitive. I’m not going to be seeing this (the outside world) for a lot of years. It won’t be a slap on the wrist for me.”
Denise first published her memoir at the end of last year.
She described the book as an attempt to change how her son is remembered and to “bring him back to life”.
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