More than 32 years ago, during the James Bulger trial, the jury heard that a woman had seen a young child with a ‘terrible bump’ on his head in the presence of two older boys and told them to ‘hurry home to his mum’.

On the fifth day of the trial at Preston Crown Court, the jury was led further along the route on which James, aged two, was alleged to have been taken on February 12, 1993, by two 10-year-old boys — a journey that ended with his murder.

The boys, identified as child A and child B, pleaded not guilty to abducting and murdering James and attempting to abduct a second two-year-old boy.

The prosecution claimed that James was taken from the Strand shopping precinct in Bootle, where he had been with his mother Denise, and led to a railway line in Walton. There, he was allegedly beaten to death with bricks and left on the track.

Irene Hitman, aged 63 at the time, said that on the afternoon of February 12 she was taking her dog for a walk around the reservoir close to her home in Breeze Hill, Merseyside. At about 4.40pm she heard crying and looked over the edge of the reservoir to a lower level.

She saw two boys pulling a baby up some steps. When they were only about three feet away, she noticed a look on the young child’s face. “The baby was frightened. There was a lump on his forehead and a terrible lump on top of his head. I asked them what was the matter. They said he had fallen down the steps.”

The boys told her they were going home, to which Mrs Hitman said she replied: “Hurry up home and let his mum see his head.” She added: “I thought they were three little brothers.”

Cross-examining, David Turner, KC, defending child A, read out the statement Mrs Hitman made to police on the night after James went missing. It said: “I asked the two boys if they knew the toddler and they both said no they didn’t. I told them that he should get some attention for his injuries and they both said they would take him to the police station.”

Mrs Hitman denied that her original statement, which she had signed, was more likely to be accurate than her current memory. “I did not say that to the police,” she said.

Earlier, Gillian Burke, aged 33 at the time, told the court she had seen a toddler being chased up a hill by two older boys. She was being driven home by her husband at about 4.15 when they came to a stop at a give-way sign. She noticed a boy in a black jacket sitting on the wall.

Behind him a “little boy was running up the hill. A boy in a mustard jacket was chasing him.” She later recognised the boy in the black jacket from video film shown on television.

Another witness said that he saw a young child, whom he later identified from photographs as James Bulger, running “at a trot” in the direction of a busy road. Kenneth Smith, aged 32 at the time, said the child was “crying quite severely. I could see the tears.”

Mr Smith said he saw the toddler run into a coned area by the road, then one of two older boys who was with him put his arms around him, picked him up and put him back on the pavement as though to protect him from the traffic.

“You probably formed the view it was a perfectly innocent and sensible thing for that boy to do,” Mr Turner said. “Correct,” Mr Smith replied.

The trial concluded later that month.