Jon Venables murdered two-year-old James with Robert ... but the government rejected the call for a public inquiry. James's mother Denise Fergus said the debate was "something positive".

Jon Venables, now 41, has spent time in prison ... James' family praised the decision, and a spokeswoman for his mother, Denise Fergus, said this was a day she had been waiting "years" for.

Jon Venables, who now uses a new identity ... family liaison officer on the murder investigation. She joined James' mother within an hour of him disappearing, she told Good Morning Britain ...