It has been a 29-year battle for Denise Fergus.
When her son James was so brutally taken all those years ago she vowed to see justice for him.
Through her tears and pain, she has kept fighting. Now, finally, she has a breakthrough.
Nothing more frustrating than the feeling politicians are not listening, are out of touch.
For 29 years, Denise has called on them to hear her view that the boy - now a man - who killed her tot should never walk free.
This newspaper and its readers stood by her.
We campaigned for Justice Secretary Dominic Raab to meet Denise. And finally, he did.
Thanks to that meeting, James’ case will be discussed in Parliament and a public inquiry is moving a step closer.
Denise said: “This will be the beginning of something that will leave a legacy in James’ name.”
It will.
Her actions and bravery will help thousands of families.
An inquiry and the truth that follows will offer some comfort.
Denise will never fully heal, of course. Never fully get over the death of her little boy.
But this will help.
At last she has been heard. At last a Parliament that can seem so remote, so caught up in its petty squabbling, has its attention focused on something vital.
It is shameful that it took almost three decades for Denise to be heard.
But at last James’ name will ring out in Westminster, brought there by the most powerful force of all – a mother seeking justice for her murdered son.
A mother who was never going to give up.
Tackle root causes
Today we bring you shocking news of the scale of sex attacks at UK universities. The Government has vowed to crack down on these horrifying assaults but there is a limit to what it can do.
And the root of the problem needs to be investigated and tackled properly. Blame porn, hypersexualised TV and films, or any other of the myriad factors responsible for the confused youth culture of today’s world.
But whatever the reasons, the true cure is education and a reversal of the toxic masculinity saturating society and putting so many of our young people at risk.
