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26th Feb 2019

James Bulger’s mother ‘relieved’ that film about her son’s murder didn’t win an Oscar

Jade Hayden

“I’m so made up.”

The mother of James Bulger has said that she is “relieved” that the film about her son’s murder did not win an Oscar.

Detainment, directed by Vincent Lambe, was nominated for Best Live Action Short at the 91st Academy Awards.

The film focuses on the police interviews of Bulger’s killers, Jon Venables and Robert Thompson.

Denise Fergus had asked Lambe to remove his short from contention, claiming that the director was “obsessed” with her son’s murder.

She wrote yesterday that she was “relieved” that Detainment hadn’t received an Oscar.

“I’m so made up, that short film Detainment did not win the Oscar,” she said on Twitter. “Can’t tell you just how relieved I am, thanks to everyone who has agreed with me on this xx.”

Two-year-old James was abducted from a shopping centre in Liverpool by 10-year-olds Venables and Thompson in 1993.

The pair were imprisoned for life for torturing and killing the toddler.

Both boys served eight years in prison before they were released in 2001 and given new identities.

Denise has since said that she still blames herself for her son’s death. 

“If I’d turned right instead of left, I’d have saved his life,” she wrote in a piece for the Mail on Sunday. 

“There aren’t the words to describe how I still feel now, every day. I was the one who let go of his hand, I was the one there meant to protect him.”

Since his release in 2001, Venables has been charged with the possession of indecent child images twice.

James’s father is attending the High Court today to challenge the killer’s lifelong anonymity.