Silence marks Bulger anniversary

THOUSANDS of Merseysiders observed a one-minute silence yesterday to mark the tenth anniversary of the murder of toddler James Bulger.

The Liverpool Town Hall flag was flown at half-mast in memory of the two-year-old boy whose battered body was found on an isolated railway line.

Staff and shoppers at Bootle's Strand shopping centre from where the trusting youngster was lured to his death also paid silent tribute to the little boy.

Chilling CCTV stills of James being led from the shopping centre towards the Walton railway track and his death at the hands of 10-year-old truants shocked Britain.

His schoolboy killers, Robert Thompson and John Venables, now free and living with new identities, were detained indefinitely following a high-profile trial at Preston Crown Court.

James's parents, whose marriage broke up in the wake of their son's brutal death, were expected to visit their son's grave to mark the anniversary of his death.

Both have struggled to come to terms with what happened and the subsequent release of the two Liverpool schoolboys who spent some eight years in youth custody.

Denise Fergus, 35, who has since remarried, has spoken of "living with a life sentence" while Thompson and Venables "have literally been allowed to get away with murder".

Her ex-husband Ralph Bulger visited the isolated train track where his young son was found battered to death during a documentary made to mark the anniversary.

Speaking at length for the first time, he told the programme: "Venables and Thompson what they've done, they've made me the way I am now I don't like the person I am now but I've got to live with it.

"It's hard waking up every morning knowing you've got that much hate in you and you can't get rid of it. The lord mayor of Liverpool, Councillor Jack Spriggs was joined by his staff for the silence at 9am.

He said: "It will be a day of sadness and reflection for the people of the city and our thoughts will be with James's family."