Boy's life 'wrecked by arrest'

THE 12-YEAR-OLD boy questioned and released by police hunting the killers of two-year-old James Bulger has had his life wrecked and his family has been forced to go into hiding, a lawyer said yesterday.

Members of the family are living under assumed names in bed- and-breakfast accommodation outside Liverpool for their own protection, after an outraged response from the community after police took in the boy. He was arrested on Tuesday night after eight police cars went to his terrace home in Kirkdale, Liverpool, and was taken away with a blanket over his head as a shouting mob gathered. But the next day the boy was released without charge.

The lawyer, Rex Makin, said he had advised the parents there was nothing they could successfully do to legally challenge the police.

He said: 'The boy's life has been wrecked . . . He has never had any psychological trouble, but he is now wetting the bed and waking up with nightmares.

'The family have no home and don't know what to do or what is going to happen to them. Their plight is terrible.

'After their ordeal they have never had an apology and I really think an apology from the police would be appropriate.'