- guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 16 February 1993 11.53 GMT
There were few children in the Strand yesterday and very little straying.
Diane Kenny was having problems with young Simon, who will be two in April and has a mind of his own. 'He won't go in the buggy and he won't go on the reins,' she said. 'We're having to watch him all the time.'
Simon wandered off, pursued by his grandmother. 'I was really upset at the murder,' said Ms Kenny. 'It was so close to home.'
Behind her lay the butcher's shop from which James Bulger strayed on Friday. A sign said: 'We are taking donations inside. This is our way of saying sorry and deepest sympathy to the parents of Little James. From the people of Bootle. Every little helps.'
'There has been a tremendous response,' said Paul Bennett, the manager. 'We're hoping that in this way something good can come of this. People aren't saying a lot and there has been an air of silence in the centre today. There haven't been many people about - I don't think they want to be at the scene where the little boy disappeared.'
Police carried on their inquiries, moving from shop to shop with clipboards. Posters on all doors carried the fuzzy security camera pictures of James hand-in-hand with his presumed abductor. If James was confused and sought help, it is no wonder in the maze of the Strand.
It was the age of the alleged abductors which seemed to shock parents most. 'You can warn your children about going off with strange adults. But how do you warn them about kids?' asked one mother waiting outside nearby Cambridge Road nursery school.
In the school June Burns, the head teacher, finished a discussion with the 40 children aged two to four who come to her each afternoon. She did not evade the issue. 'There was a little boy who got lost in the Strand and now he's dead,' she said. 'He won't play with his mummy and daddy any more. If you go to the Strand, hold your mummy's hand tight. Don't get lost. But if you do, what should you do?'
Michelle Bushnell, all in green and with a flowing pony tail, said: 'Go to a policeman or the lady at the till.' The answer won praise from Mrs Burns.
'It's very hard because children of this age do not understand the concept of danger. It's a case of being didactic, of giving them a very strong code.'
Collecting Michelle at the end of the school day, Mary Bushnell admitted she was an over-protective mother. 'I was crying for James and his mother today. My daughter won't talk to anyone she doesn't know. I've trained her since she was one.'
Sharon Halewood, mother of Thomas, aged four, said: 'You can try to prepare children without frightening them. But otherwise, what can you do? You don't want them to grow up paranoid.'
Back at the shopping centre, sprays of flowers left by well-wishers crowded a bucket by the main entrance as daylight faded.
