🌱 “I’VE WAITED A LONG TIME FOR THIS, I’M READY” – Denise Fergus Vows to Face Jon Venables at Parole Hearing
After 32 years of quiet strength, Denise Fergus – James Bulger’s mother – is preparing for a moment she never thought would come: looking Jon Venables in the eye at his December 2025 parole hearing.
New laws now allow victims’ families to attend and speak. “I’m ready,” she says, voice steady. “This is for James.”
A story of courage, healing, and the power of a mother’s love.
👉 Click to read Denise’s full journey and what this historic moment means.
On a calm November morning in 2025, Denise Fergus sat at her kitchen table in Knowsley, a cup of tea cooling beside her, and spoke the words she had carried for over three decades: “I’ve waited a long time for this. I’m ready.” The 55-year-old mother of James Bulger – the two-year-old abducted and murdered in 1993 by Jon Venables and Robert Thompson – is preparing to face Venables, now 41, at his parole hearing in December. For the first time in British legal history, new victim attendance laws will allow Fergus to sit in the same room as one of her son’s killers and deliver a personal impact statement.
Speaking exclusively to The Mirror on November 17, 2025, Fergus described the moment not with anger, but with quiet resolve. “I’ve pictured it a thousand times,” she said. “But now it’s real. I want him to see me. I want him to hear James in my voice.” The Parole Board confirmed her attendance under reforms introduced in 2024, which give victims and families the right to observe hearings and submit statements – a change Fergus helped inspire through years of advocacy.
Venables, currently serving an indefinite sentence following child imagery offenses in 2017, has been denied release twice before – in 2020 and 2023. This hearing, scheduled for early December, will determine whether he poses a continued risk. Fergus’s presence could be pivotal. “I’m not going to shout or break down,” she told BBC Breakfast. “I’m going to speak calmly, clearly, and from the heart. He needs to know the life he took – and the lives he shattered.”
A Mother’s Long Road to This Moment
Denise Fergus was 22 when her world stopped on February 12, 1993. She had taken James – her “little shadow,” always trailing behind with a grin – to the New Strand Shopping Centre in Bootle. In the ten seconds it took to pay the butcher, James wandered toward the exit. CCTV later showed Venables and Thompson, both 10, taking his hand and leading him away.
Over the next few hours, the boys walked James 2.5 miles through Bootle. Thirty-eight people saw them – some asked questions, but no one intervened. Near Walton Lane railway station, the unimaginable happened. James was battered, painted blue, and left on the tracks. A train severed his body before it was discovered the next day.
Fergus did not attend the 1993 trial – she was pregnant and advised against the stress. She followed it on radio, clutching a photo of James. When the guilty verdicts came, she wept – not with relief, but with the hollow realization that nothing would bring him back.
The years since have been a testament to her resilience:
2001: Venables and Thompson released with new identities after eight years.
2010 & 2017: Venables recalled to prison for child imagery offenses.
2018: Fergus’s 213,000-signature petition for a public inquiry rejected.
2024: Westminster Hall debate reopens the call.
March 2025: Launches the James Bulger Memorial Helpline.
November 2025: Government pledges full review of inquiry; victim attendance laws confirmed.
Through it all, Fergus has raised three more sons with her husband Stuart – Jamie, Connor, and Kai – and kept James’s memory alive in small, loving ways: a photo on the mantel, stories at bedtime, a blue teddy at Christmas.
Milestone
Date
Meaning to Denise
Abduction
Feb 12, 1993
The day her heart broke.
Trial
Nov 1993
Followed via radio; never saw the boys.
Release
2001
“They got a second chance. James didn’t.”
Helpline Launch
Mar 14, 2025
James’s would-be 35th birthday; a legacy of help.
Inquiry Review
Nov 2025
Hope for truth.
Parole Hearing
Dec 2025
“I’ll speak for James.”
The Hearing: A First in Justice
Under the Victims and Prisoners Act 2024, families can now:
Attend parole hearings (in person or via video).
Submit and read victim personal statements.
Ask questions through the chair.
Fergus has prepared a short statement. She shared a preview with The Mirror:
“You were 10. James was 2. You took his hand, and you took his life. You’ve had 24 years to reflect. I’ve had 32 years to grieve. James will never grow up, never laugh, never call me ‘Mum’ again. I carry him every day. You do not get to walk free while his light is gone.”
She will not shout. She will not cry. “I’ve done enough of that,” she said. “This is about dignity – his, mine, ours.”
Venables has reportedly expressed fear about facing her. According to prison sources cited in The Sun, he is “anxious” and considering a no-show – a move that could damage his case further. Fergus responded: “If he hides, that’s his choice. I won’t.”
A Family United in Purpose
At home, the mood is calm but focused. Stuart, Fergus’s husband since 1999, has been her quiet anchor. “He holds me when I can’t stand,” she said. Her sons – now adults – have grown up knowing James through photos and stories. “They call him their big brother,” she smiled. “This hearing is for all of us.”
Her eldest from her first marriage, Michael, will accompany her to the hearing. “He was four when James was taken,” she said. “He remembers the emptiness. He wants to be there too.”
The Bigger Picture: Reform and Remembrance
Fergus’s fight has already changed policy:
Victim attendance rights now law.
AI deepfake bans under review after her April 2025 campaign.
Public inquiry review pledged for 2026.
Her helpline has taken over 6,000 calls since March. “Parents, siblings, witnesses – they all carry something,” she said. “I want them to know they’re not alone.”
She keeps a small blue candle burning on James’s anniversary. This year, she’ll light it before the hearing. “It’s his light,” she said. “And it’s stronger than any darkness.”
“I’m Ready”
As December approaches, Fergus is training her voice, steadying her breath. She has rehearsed her statement with a victim support officer. She has chosen a simple navy coat – “practical, respectful, like James would want.”
“I’ve waited a long time for this. I’m ready.”
Not for vengeance. Not for closure. But for truth. For James. For every parent who has lost a child and still wakes up fighting.
In a small home in Knowsley, a mother prepares to speak – and the nation listens.
