In 1993, the UK was held in horror by the murder of two-year-old James Bulger. From the scene of his abduction to the youth justice system, the distress still reverberates
In Bootle’s aged shopping centre, billboards promise “there’s something changing at the Strand” but the place feels haunted by the past. The butcher’s shop where two-year-old James Bulger was abducted is long gone, as is the Mothercare where dozens of anxious parents bought 60s-style reins in the days after he was taken.
On the lower level, where CCTV cameras captured that haunting image of James being led away by one of his killers, a giant black poster celebrates 50 years of the Strand. It has been here since 2018. Even the big clock at the bus station next door is stuck in the past.
