James Bulger’s mum says Primark kidnap girls forced her to relive her own ordeal
Denise Fergus told how two teenage girls snatched a two-year-old from her pram in a busy shop has brought memories of her little boy flooding back.
JAMES Bulger's mum says the Primark kidnapping case has forced her to relive her ordeal - adding: "I can't believe it's happened again".
Denise Fergus revealed how two teenage girls snatched a two-year-old from her pram in a busy shop has brought memories of her little boy flooding back.
James, two, was abducted, tortured and murdered by two ten-year-old boys after being taken from a shopping centre in Bootle, Merseyside 23 years ago.
Yesterday in a chilling echo of the Bulger case, two girls, 13, and 14, admitted snatching a tot from Primark in Newcastle city centre.
They led her to a park three miles away where cops found her, unharmed.
Denise told ITV's Loose Women: "Hearing stories like this is horrible. I can't believe it has happened again.
"I just have to relive it all, especially with social media."
Recalling how she felt when her son James had been snatched by Jon Venables and Robert Thompson, Denise said: "Every minute without your child is like an hour, you're just desperate to get your child back."
James Bulger was abducted, tortured and murdered by two ten-year-old boys in Bootle, Merseyside in February 1993
She added: "You don't know what to do.
"I think we're more aware because of what happened to James. But it's not going to stop it from happening.
"I let go of his hand for a split second and he was gone, and my life changed forever.
"It's 's happened a few times since James.
"It's horrible to see. Thank god the girl was ok."
James' body was dumped on railway tracks in Walton, Merseyside.
Venables and Thompson, who were just 10 at the time, were jailed for James' murder in a crime that shocked the world.
Denise said: "When I first heard he had been taken by two 10-year-old boys I had every hope we would get him back.
"I thought they're probably feeding him Mars bars and pretending him like he was their brother."
She admitted she blamed herself in the immediate aftermath of her son's murder.
Denise said: "I kept saying 'only if I kept hold of his hand'. It was a split second I looked down and he had gone."
Yesterday, two girls, aged 13 and 14, admitted abducting a tot from Primark in Newcastle’s busy Northumberland Street in April and led her to a park three miles away.
The pair – aged 13 and 14 – left the store and headed to a nearby train station where they caught a Metro to a park three miles away as the hysterical mum raised the alarm.
Police launched a massive city-wide search across Newcastle after studying CCTV footage showing the girls taking her out of the store.
Cops who knew the girls told colleagues to check a park where they often hung out and they were found with the child, who was unharmed, 90 minutes later.
The girls, who had earlier tried to snatch another black child, admitted kidnap when they appeared at North Tyneside youth court today.
They whispered “guilty” as they also admitted stealing baby milk and a bottle from Boots and Sainsbury’s before the kidnap.
An earlier hearing was told chilling details of how they had planned the kidnap by researching sexual abuse of black women and children.
Prosecutor Lee Poppett said the girls had been searching for ‘rape’, ‘poor little thing getting kidnapped and raped’ and ‘African woman sexual activity’ on a tablet.
He said: “There was significant planning involved. There is evidence to support that the young girls in question had been researching rape.
“A tablet contained a number of particular searches for rape, people getting raped, young people getting raped, poor little thing getting kidnapped and raped and African woman sexual activity.
“The young child in this case is a black child.”
The little girl was found in a park in the suburb of Gosforth an hour and 45 minutes later.
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She was reunited with her mum after being tracked by CCTV camera operators from the city centre, on the Metro system and along Gosforth High Street and into a park.
The pair had originally been charged with kidnap with the intention of committing a relevant sexual offence but this was “discontinued” at the hearing and the prosecution accepted a plea to the alternative charge of kidnap.
The girl’s father yesterday told of the family’s terror when she was taken and revealed they are still tormented by thoughts of what the sisters had been planning.
He said: “As a parent you ask yourself – what was their intent?
“Yes, she was found safe and well but what if the police had not found her until 6pm or 7pm when it was dark – what then?
“There is relief they have pleaded guilty but not full relief because we don’t know why they did it and what they intended to do.
“You never forget the guilt of losing her.
“Her mother was on the phone and our daughter was in her pram. They offered her sweets, she was hysterical and they got her out and started playing with her around the shop."
It's horrible to see. Thank god the girl was ok.
Denise Fergus, James Bulger's mum
“Thankfully the police did an amazing job and the people of Newcastle came together to help us. We are so grateful that she was unharmed.
“We want to thank the police and the city of Newcastle.”
District Judge Roger Elsey today said the issue of “dangerousness” must be considered. He said: “There is some very concerning material on the tablet that was recovered.
“That is going to have to inform the assessment of dangerousness.”
Lee Poppett, prosecuting, told the previous youth court hearing at South East Northumberland Magistrates’ Court: “There is several links to ‘African woman sexual activity’ and the young child in this case is black.”
Poppett described the failed abduction, which happened two hours earlier in the same Primark store, with the two teens playing with the little girl moments before her mum lost sight of her.
n the earlier kidnapping attempt, one of the girls approached the mum and asked if she was looking for a little girl with a green coat, and told her to go to the counter as that’s where the child was.
The mum turned around in the other direction and saw her daughter there in the abduction attempt, two hours before the successful kidnap.
Both girls, who cannot be identified, have no criminal record and have never been arrested or cautioned.
They had a history of going missing from their Tyneside home and were known to social services although they were not in care at the time of the offence in April.
The girls appeared at a youth court hearing in North Tyneside and pleaded guilty to three joint offences – kidnap, theft of dummies and theft of baby bottle and milk..
Their alleged victim cannot be identified for legal reasons.
District Judge Roger Elsey adjourned the case for reports to be made.
It will be back before the youth court at North Shields on July 4, when the prosecution will outline their case and the defence will put forward mitigation.
The child abduction case that shocked the world
This is the chilling moment toddler Jamie Bulger was abducted by two ten-year-old boys.
His mutilated body was found on a railway line two days later.
The toddler's killers - Robert Thompson and Jon Venables - were both aged 10 and pounced when his mum was distracted for a split second in Bootle shopping centre, Liverpool, on February 12, 1993.
They tortured and the murdered the defenceless two-year-old.
Thompson and Venables were found guilty of Jamie's murder in November that year.
The youngest convicted murderers in English history were released under new identities in June 2001.
In 2010, Venables was jailed for breaching his licence condition. Three years later he was released on parole.
The judge told the girls they may yet be sentenced in the Crown Court.
They were remanded into the care of the local authority in the meantime.
Chief Superintendent Laura Young, of Northumbria Police, said: “To lose a child, or have a child taken from you in these circumstances, must be every parent’s worst nightmare.
“I am just glad that we are in a position today where the child is safely back home and hopefully this awful incident can be put behind them.
“The fact that this is the case is down to the excellent work of our officers on that day and the support we received from partners and the public.”
Also, Denise says she is willing to offer support to the McCann family whose daughter Madeleine was abducted from their holiday villa in Portugal in May 2007.
She said: "If they want to speak to me I am more than willing to speak to them but I don't want to intrude."
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