Denise Fergus said if she had “taken the right turn and gone around the corner” she would have seen her boy being led away by Jon Venables and Robert Thompson.
She dwells on “taking my eyes off him for that split second” and letting go of Jamie’s hand when she went to look for a purse.
Denise revealed the only time she let go of his hand at the butcher’s shop was to pay.
She told the Mail on Sunday: “It was one of those moments where the world feels like it is turning in slow motion.
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“I remember this voice in my head. Not James. Not my beautiful boy. This couldn’t be happening to me, I didn’t ever let him out of sight.
“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.”
Denise stopped sleeping the day James was killed and hasn’t “had a full night’s rest since”.
Venables was just 10 years old when he and pal Robert Thompson, also 10, abducted two-year-old James from a Merseyside shopping centre in 1993.
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The James Bulger murder
Police Handout
“I was the one who let go of his hand; I was the one there meant to protect him”
Denise Fergus
The evil duo led him to a deserted railway track where they tortured him to death.
The pair were released in 2001 after serving just eight years and granted lifetime anonymity.
Jon Venables was locked up again last November after cops found a stash of vile material.
Denise vowed to finally get “justice” after her son’s killer was arrested over the child abuse images.
She tweeted: “So once again I feel like what happened to my son doesn't matter.
“I’m now gonna step up and keep my promise to my son James and fight this all the way with your love and support we can do this. #ImJamesVoice #JusticeForJames”.