Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
THE KILLERS
Why were they freed so early?
VENABLES and Thompson were released on licence aged 18 in 2001, after just eight years.
They were given new identities, and never spent time in an adult jail. Denise is calling for a public inquiry into their release on the grounds they were rehabilitated.
Venables received a two-year sentence for downloading child sex abuse images in 2010. He is awaiting trial for another offence.
For details, visit https://petition. parliament.uk/petitions/206851.
To this day, I don’t sleep until everyone is home. And I expect texts to let me know when they are on their way.
Even now Michael is in his 20s, if he texts to say he’s on his way home, I time him. If he’s even a few minutes late, I go into a blind panic.
I truly don’t think the fear I felt when I realised James wasn’t by my side will ever fully leave me.
And it only intensified its grip when his killers were freed in 2001.
They weren’t meant to enter Merseyside, but we know one of them came to the city to watch an Everton game. We also know that Jon Venables has been out drinking in Liverpool, which is terrifying.
In March 2010, nine years after his release, Venables was recalled to jail for downloading and distributing indecent images of children.
He was given a two-year jail sentence, but was eligible for parole within a year. By then, our lads were on the cusp of wanting to start venturing out, and I was terrified. I thought, what if he goes to a nightclub and starts talking to Michael?
That means that Michael would unwittingly be talking to the lad who murdered his brother.
FROZEN
My fear for all my sons has been there since they were tiny. I was really overprotective of Michael.
On the rare occasion we did go to a public place, I took no chances. He was on harnesses, a wrist strap, and he had to hold my hand.
It is the small milestones or memories that still have the ability to floor me, but one that hit me particularly hard was watching Michael turn three.
James should have been helping him open his presents. All we had was his portrait smiling down from above the fireplace, frozen in time.
Michael’s first day at school was another terrifying milestone. I had to keep telling myself, “It’s Michael and not James, it will be fine”.
My overprotectiveness remained just as intense when I had the other boys. At night, I used to keep both babies downstairs with me until I was ready for bed.
My anxiety got worse if there was something legal happening with Thompson and Venables. It would
MICHAEL, now 25 and a landscape gardener, has always had James in his life.
And he understands why his mum Denise was so anxious. He said: “When I was young, if I went out I knew I couldn’t go far.
“Mum was either looking out the window, or standing in the doorway, trying to hide.