- guardian.co.uk, Sunday 14 February 1993 11.51 GMT
A security camera at Bootle's Strand Centre captured the moment when the missing toddler was led away by two youths, believed to be aged about 12 and 13. Last night the police appealed for the youths or anyone who might know them to come forward. More than 100 detectives have been drafted into the hunt for the missing child. Information is being collated on the Holmes computer, normally used for murder inquiries. Search teams concentrated their efforts on factories and warehouses along the banks of the Leeds-Liverpool canal, where James was last reportedly seen. Divers also searched the murky canal but found nothing.
James was left alone by his 25-year-old mother Denise for five minutes as she went in a shop. She wept as she made an emotional appeal at a press conference yesterday for the youths to come forward. 'If you have got my baby, just bring him back,' she said.
Police released four still pictures from the security video and appealed for anyone who saw James near the centre's Marks & Spencer store between 3.30pm and 3.45pm to contact them on 051-777-2655. James is 2ft 6in, with short blond hair and blue eyes. He was wearing a blue anorak, with a hood with a mustard-coloured lining, silver-coloured tracksuit bottoms, and white trainers.
