It’s been more than three decades since Britain was shaken by the tragedy of little James Bulger. Yet for his mother, Denise Fergus, time has never fully healed the wound.

This week, a simple walk through a crowded street brought that pain flooding back. Denise later admitted that, for a brief, haunting moment, she thought she saw her son again — not as the child she lost, but as the man he might have become.

“I know it sounds impossible,” she said softly. “But when you lose a child, you never stop looking. Every face, every glimpse… sometimes your heart just tricks you, because it misses them so much.”

Her words have touched millions of people across the UK — a reminder that grief, especially a mother’s grief, never truly fades.

Psychologists say such moments are common among parents who experience traumatic loss. They’re not delusions, but reflections of enduring love — the mind’s way of keeping connection alive when reality cannot.

For Denise, that fleeting moment was both painful and strangely peaceful. A whisper that her son, whose name became known across the world, is still with her in some unseen way — in memory, in spirit, in the love that never died.

“You never stop being their mum,” she said. “Even after 32 years.”