THE mother of the murdered Liverpool toddler, James Bulger, last night pledged to devote her life to keeping his schoolboy killers in jail after judges dramatically ruled their 15 year minimum sentence unlawful.
Ms Denise Bulger said the High Court ruling - a humiliating blow to the Home Secretary, Mr Michael Howard - was making her "go mad" with anger and frustration.
Two judges threw the law on sentencing juvenile killers into chaos by telling Mr Howard he had overstepped his powers in ordering that Robert Thompson and Jon Venables should be detained for at least 15 years.
The Home Secretary reacted with fury and threatened to protect the sovereignty of parliament by changing the law if a government appeal failed.
James Bulger died at the age of two on a lonely stretch of railway track in Liverpool after a horrific ordeal at the hands of Thompson and Venables in early 1994.
Mrs Bulger was in distress at her home in Kirkby, Merseyside yesterday as the implications of the ruling sank in.
"I am sick over it. I am going mad over what has happened. I didn't think they should get out anyway, even after 15 years," she said. "They took a life - they should serve life."
She continued: "James can't walk out of his grave, can he so why should they walk out? The evil is in them. You can see it in them. They aren't going to change. I am going to fight it right until the end. For as long as I am alive I am going to fight this."
The ruling will not see Thompson and Venables released but has far reaching implications for some 230 young people serving time for murder.
Mr Howard was outraged at the decision, which he said flew in the face of judicial practice and precedent.
"Let us not forget that this was an appalling crime which deeply shocked the nation. This novel decision is quite remarkable," he said. "The power I exercised was given to me by parliament. It has been exercised 400 times without challenge since 1983."
He added: "We intend to appeal and we shall, if necessary, legislate so that the will of parliament may prevail."
The court case cent red on the use of "tariffs" by the Home Secretary in deciding the jail terms of young offenders. The trial judge in the Bulger case recommended that Venables and Thompson should serve at least eight years and the Lord Chief Justice called for a 10 year minimum. Mr Howard finally settled on 15 years.
But the High Court ruled Mr Howard had acted outside his powers and quashed his decision. Lord Justice Pill, sitting with Mr Justice Newman, said the Home Secretary had adopted an unlawful practice" by treating the boys in the same way as adult murderers serving life sentences.
"What I cannot accept is that in the case of an offender aged 10 or 11, he can fix a tariff of 15 years as if the offender were an adult," he said. "It is inconsistent with the requirement to keep under review to fix a 15 year tariff at the beginning of a sentence on a child of 11."
The case could have knock on effects for up to 230 young criminals detained at present. More than a third have tariffs higher than those recommended by the judiciary.
The shadow home secretary, Mr Jack Straw, said the ruling raised serious questions about the sentencing of juvenile murderers. There is evidently considerable confusion as to the law which the appeal courts must address as a matter of urgency."