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As his killers began their sentences, such was the revulsion that it was already clear their families could not. James Bulgers mother Denise claims that she managed to track down Thompson six years ago, planning to confront him but instead stared at him from the opposite side of the street, full of rage but unable to act. It was to be an adult trial, both boys appearing every day in the full gaze of whoever was in that room, but neither giving evidence directly to the court. Just having a bit of shade!! March 10, 2021 - 20:29 GMT Eve Crosbie. The attitude when you live where we live is that you have to be tough or else you dont survive, she said. Although Susan couldnt recall any dramatic change in Jons behavior, his teachers there expressed some concern that Jon had become upset and difficult following the separation. He had been quiet that weekend, they said, but they had thought that was because his mother had taken him to the police station on the Friday evening for playing truant. kl. Susan Venables has blamed "weakness" for her son's role in the killing of James Bulger, claiming that he "got involved with the wrong person". fun to be with" and always had plenty of friends. Robert had asked once before but Jon, who had rarely truanted in his previous school, was scared and said no. I used to get them for myself at night time. Although he appeared to have the more stable upbringing of the two boys, there was a history of family problems. Pictures; Inside the Guardian; Guardian Weekly . He has had more love and attention than a lot of children I know. It would be a week before we heard their voices, in hours of taped police interviews, They stopped us all in our tracks. He is one of those children that if you told him to put his hand in the fire, he would. At first, Robert seemed to respond well to this, taking the initiative to help feed and clothe the baby, and doing what he could to please his mother. Her warnings arent being heeded, but 25 years on, I think she is probably right. From a distance Robert looked a sweet child. Finally, in 1988, while on a family vacation, the breaking point came, when Big Bobby, then thirty-four, began an adulterous relationship with a friend and neighbor in her fifties. It's high time they were investigated. I wasnt on duty that day, so the very beginnings of the story washed over me. On November 24, 1993, the two boys, by then aged 11, became the youngest defendants to be sentenced for murder in a British court. The couples first child, a son, had been born with a cleft pallet, and when Jon was born, much of the Venables focus was on getting their eldest son into speech therapy. Ann denied the physical abuse, but later admitted to being cruel to the boys at times. "An awful mistake for 10 year olds is shoplifting not murdering a 2 year old FFS," another angry viewer tweeted. I wish we could turn the clocks back,' Mrs Venables, 36, said. however, as the incident in the playground shows, the ever-present threat of discovery cast a constant shadow over anyone related to the two murderers. Jon spent Sunday to Thursday with his mum and the rest of every week with his dad. The other shops in the area were also armoured with mesh, including the Red Garden chipper where Robert used to pop in with his brothers most nights for a 25p bag of chips. "I think about little James and what he must have gone through, how they must feel. Superintendent Kirby is a religious man. It was this empowering chemistry between them that some argued set into motion the life-altering events that would devastate a family, challenge a community, and rock a nations core in the disquieting months that followed. TWO BOYS. UK news in pictures 15 February 2023. Given the Venables family history, it was later suggested that Jon could arguably have been affected by an undiagnosed disorder at the time, and was clearly emotionally underdeveloped. Big Bobby, like Anns father, was a violent alcoholic, who was easily crossed. Anne Thompson could hold her drink and no one ever saw her staggering home. "One mystery surrounding the murder of James Bulger case is why the 'experts' insisted that Jon Venables was rehabilitated. The most startling moment of the trial came when, in lieu of giving evidence in person, the boys' taped interviews with police - recorded just after their arrest - were played in court. The distress of one woman who had come agonisingly close to taking James by the hand herself to a police station, only to be hoodwinked by Thompson and Venables that they were doing just that. The appearance in court this week of Venables, now a 35-year-old man, on charges of possessing indecent images of children, was a jarring reminder that, still a quarter of a century on, his rehabilitation is more an ambition than a reality. Best of all, they would spend time on the Walton railway line where Robert had built a den close to the bridge. I just think of James and his Dad and about all that fun with his little boy, like I had with Jon.". ", Her husband, Neil, said: "If you had a league table of children, you would put him at the bottom of the list for anything like this.". Not that he had any need to borrow his dad's. Why Alex Murdaugh was spared the death penalty, Why Trudeau is facing calls for a public inquiry, The shocking legacy of the Dutch 'Hunger Winter', Why half of India's urban women stay at home. Forensic and pathology evidence was a huge challenge for everyone, not least the jury who were shown pictures of James' injuries. Since his 14-year-old brother, Phillip , had already tried to stab him, the social services agreed. He was also given 'respite care' - six weekly weekend breaks to relieve the family of the burden of looking after him. In the mean time, Susan, finding her new living conditions insufferable, soon decided to move back in with Neil until she could find another place of her own. They went on family outings together, slept together, and when Susan did find a place, virtually coexisted between the two homes. For me, though, it is Susan and Neil Venables who stay most in my memory of that day. 'His mum was more strict. Robert Thompson and Jon Venables, both 10, murdered him in cold blood. Both were banned from ever returning to Liverpool and given new identities at a reported cost of 1.5million. Robert had eaten too many and felt sick. You know, we just try and help him as best we can to try to come to terms with things. Other parents came in to complain about attention seeking. In March 2010, Venables was recalled to prison for downloading and distributing more than 100 images of child abuse. The statement said: "The man formerly known as Jon Venables has been charged with offences relating to indecent images of children and will appear in the Crown Court. He once came to me crying saying the other boys were picking on him, trying to steal his bike.'. Drivers have been warned to leave extra time for their Monday morning commute due to icy roads during rush hour, following a weekend of wintry weather. Another added: "An awful mistake??!! That seems the very least they could face for what they did. Click here to find personal data about Susan Venables including phone numbers, addresses, directorships, electoral roll information, related property prices and other useful information. "'It wasnt fair to interview him. It was when Jon turned seven that Susan and the children had relocated to Norris Green, one of Liverpools larger, more reputable areas. I don't think they understood he was hyperactive. S. Susan venables. I would say he was provoked. If I wanted to kill a baby, Id kill Id kill me own, wouldnt I?. Jon continued to attend Broad Square, where children of the neighborhood openly mocked and poked fun at his siblings, calling them backward. Jon was also an easy target due to a squint in his eye. David James Smith, who wrote a book about the Bulger case, The Sleep Of Reason, and stayed in touch with Ann Thompson afterwards. Grey seal pups on the beach at Horsey in Norfolk, as the pupping season draws to a close at one the UK's most important sites for the mammals. gl. Reporters from around the world ended up in the drab streets of Walton, cadging interviews off any 10-year-old boys hanging around in the streets. His body was found two days later on a railway line. Recently, I dug out my old notebooks of the trial and my handwriting during the verdicts says it all. He caused me such anxiety, the teacher later recalled of Jon in a statement given to the Merseyside police. They had to report him missing at the security office before he was found, and Jon's mother was very angry. The sunrises through the sea mist over the sculpture The Couple by Sean Henry at Newbiggin-by-the-Sea on the Northumberland coast. Susan Venables, mother of Jon, blamed her son's "weakness" for the killing and said he was "fearful" and "provoked" by his accomplice Robert Thompson. Thompson, who gained five GCSEs and A-levels in design and technology, is said to have developed an interest in theatre. Wiping away tears, he went on: 'I feel for that family. Put bluntly, Jon Venables still gets a kick out of seeing small children suffer. Robert said 'If you tell anybody I'll get my big brother to batter you up'. 'In this state it is quite painful to see a normal relationship between mother and child. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. 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He would often have to stay in class at break times to catch up. yet, as Venables is back behind bars. The shocking murder that shook the nation, Both Venables and Robert Thompson were 10 years-old when they tortured and killed 2 year-old James Bulger, Thompson and Venables were tried as adults, James Bulger, aged 2 years old, being led away in a shopping centre in Liverpool, Denise Fergus denied having anything to do with the Channel 4 documentary about her son, James Bulger's murder case could now be investigated, The petition is on nearly 15,000 signatures, James Bulger was just two when he was brutally murdered, He had been out shopping with his mum Denise, James was made to walk two miles before being left for dead on a disused rail line, Denise tirelessly campaigned to have their sentence increased, Denise once admitted she's lived 'in fear' since the trial. The best photos of birds and other wildlife from around the world. Their. The atmosphere in the courtroom was oppressive as the tension of a month was about to break. He said he was frightened of Robert's older brother. Robert would give Jon presents of stolen objects: trolls, of course, toy terrapins, sweets. The phone-in programme, as ever, was a place to turn to try to find reasons - evil, poverty, neglect, possessed anything to explain what felt inexplicable. Every day the public gallery was packed with students, pensioners, mothers, teenagers, all drawn to the courtroom spectacle as to a TV soap. But viewers were shocked when experts "defended" the 10-year-old murderers saying they made "an awful mistake". Robert is not believed to have reoffended - Venables has been convicted twice since being set free. ', They sagged off in the afternoon and walked around the shops in County Road, near Walton. INSIDE the court sat the two boys, dwarfed by the weight and majesty of the place. Three days later his body was found, and three days after that a tip-off came from a shopkeeper who had seen two boys playing truant on the day James went missing and gave police two names - Jon Venables and Robert Thompson. Gillespie, McNeilly, and Powell were sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 25 years. . I remember watching her then on TV, her sobbing plea for information and thinking how much guts it must have taken to get up that day and face a roomful of journalists and photographers. "It is hard to take in really. During that time, Susan felt as if she was trapped and overburdened, often taking her frustrations out on her husband, who believed it was her responsibility to take care of the children, and offered her little support in the way of childrearing. That's the thing that upsets me because obviously, where I was standing poor little James must have been not far . She was a happy baby, much happier than her eldest brother had been, but as she grew older, Susan began noticing that she, too, appeared lazy, and was not as advanced as Jon. Ann, desperate to escape the physical and emotional torment of living with her drunken father, was married to Robert, Sr. in December 1971, on the day of her eighteenth birthday. "I don't think we went wrong as parents at all. Unemployment levels were more than twice the national average in Walton. Look at mine. They did. He would steal objects that he neither needed nor wanted, then chuck them away in the street. I just burst into tears because you just knew what that meanther heart was broken. Since the murder Robert has been in a state of post-traumatic shock, hounded by nightmares and flashbacks from the railway tracks. Robert's feelings towards his half-brother also appear to have been ambivalent - he told police he would not have murdered James Bulger because 'if I wanted to kill a baby, I'd kill my own, wouldn't I?'. Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Born 10 days apart in August 1982 in Liverpool. But that is the common lot of thousands of 10-year-olds who have not turned into murderers. Teachers hold placards as they shout slogans while taking part in a protest organised in Manchester as part of a national strike day. Although not officially entered into a witness protection programme they were given help by the authorities in finding new homes and taking on new identities. Grainy CCTV footage later showed the innocent toddler being led away by Venables and Thompson, who marched the little boy through the streets of Bootle for two miles - a walk that would have taken hours given his size. 'I think about little James and what he must have gone through, how they must feel. In 1999, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that the pair did not receive a fair trial and awarded costs and expenses of 29,000 to Jon Venables and 15,000 to Robert Thompson. Ann Thompson and Susan and Neil Venables didn't need to imagine. I do believe that she feels guilty deep down for her own part in what happened., Despite the risks of discovery, the relationship is said to have contin- ued to thrive following Thompsons. fn ye vw la. During the Bulger investigation, police checked the details of 50 videos Mr Venables had hired in recent months. THE first time the boys set eyes on each other after they were arrested was in Preston crown court 3 1/2 weeks ago. Will you tell his mum I'm sorry?". These are the words of an officer who was in the police station when DCI Geoff MacDonald of Merseyside Police broke the news to Denise that James was dead. On one occasion, he said, Robert ran off down the street laughing, "You can't catch me". When the court was played Jon's taped descriptions of how they had truanted they simultaneously smiled. When he played truant he was scared she would come and find him. Sandra Gotheridge. Natural Landmarks. This time we came together in shock and disbelief. His mother, Susan, attributed this behavior with peer pressure and hyperactivity, and put him on a special diet, though it did nothing to quell his frequent emotional outbursts. Venables received a 40-month prison sentence after appearing via video link at the Old Bailey. He had left her to bring up six children alone. What happened to James Bulger? That was in September 1991, 17 months before they killed James Bulger. Hes your son., Unhappily, it was during this critical time that Ann became pregnant with her seventh child, the product of another failed relationship. He didn't want to hurt James. Facebook gives people the power to share and makes the world more open and connected. What doing well means is anybodys guess. Security launched a search for James inside the centre and James' family searched for their son overnight. They were drawn to one another quickly. She was living in secrecy but always felt that she was walking around with a huge sign: mother of Bulger killer, above her head. For weeks, she stayed in bed, not bothering to tend to the children, and when she finally did reemerge, she readily admitted she drank from morning to night, but had stopped taking the pills. his mother was told that it was important that she stayed in his life and stood by him. Thompson did what he often did, looked around, grabbing clumsily at his tongue. His mates called him a girl because whenever there was something on his mind he sucked his thumb. According to the teacher, Jon would rock back and forth in his desk, making strange noises (this behavior was later speculated to be Jons jealous attempt to emulate his elder brother, in order to receive the same special attention), bang his head on the desk or walls repeatedly, glue bits of paper all over his face, wedge himself in between desks, throw himself on the ground, throw chairs across the corridor, rip projects off the classroom walls, cut holes in his socks, and intentionally cut himself with scissors. The toddler's mum Denise Bulger was at the counter of a butchers in the Strand shopping centre in Bootle, Liverpool, on February 12, 1993, when she briefly let go of her son's hand to get some change from her purse. "It was very dark and I shouted down, shouted his name. On many occasions, Susan was observed physically and verbally assaulting Jon. I made notes of the pathologists evidence. and things like that is that he was frightened. Truanting, or 'sagging off', had become a way of life for Robert. She found it hard bringing the kids up in the neighbourhood. One time they sagged off with Robert's younger brother, which went disastrously wrong. Money was always a struggle, and she got through the first years drinking in Higson's Top House off St Mary's Lane. They had much in common. 'They would say 'take your son home'. Susan Venabless bent body shrank deeper into itself. I know how I feel as a mother. A day later, when James still hadnt been found, it was clear from CCTV footage that he had been taken by children. The documentary last night featured interviews with those involved in the 1993 trial, including James dad Ralph Bulger, Jon Venables solicitor Laurence Lee and detective sergeant Phil Roberts, who interviewed Robert Thompson. By chance, the rest of Jon's family was driving past and spotted them. Read about our approach to external linking. All information on this page is true to my knowledge, and is not intended to diminish or justify either boys actions in any way whatsoever. One woman asked how James had injured his forehead. Real bottom of the gut stuff, like an animal. 'In my opinion he was victimised. Our feelings haven't changed towards him. The government will be required to respond within 14 days if as the petition achieves more than 100,000 signatures. 'I sat away from him - he caused trouble,' Jon said. He is one of those children that if you told him to put his hand in the fire, he would. James smith (16 March 1990 [2] - 12 February 1993) was a two-year-old boy from Kirkby, Merseyside, England, who was abducted, tortured, and murdered by two 10-year-old boys, Robert Thompson (born 23 August 1982) and Jon Venables (born 13 August 1982), on 12 February 1993. They would sneak out during the morning break, hiding behind a wall before the coast was clear. A parole board ruled that Thompson and Venables were no longer a threat. Witness after witness who had seen them, or stopped and asked them what was going on, took the stand. The case is doomed to be picked over by every faction within the caring professionals and politics. Scores more watched proceedings from a neighbouring office block which, for the duration of the trial, came under court jurisdiction. Meanwhile, Thompson has not re-offended since his release, and is believed to be in a long-term relationship with a man who knows who he really is. 'The attitude when you live where we live is that you have to be tough or else you don't survive,' she said. Once the jury retired, so did the journalists - but we didnt go far. Home of the Daily and Sunday Express. This would have made little Robert the target of the fourth Thompson brother, who, in less than a years time, had confessed to arson, tried to stab his elder brother in a fit of rage, and had allegedly committed a lewd act against two small children (this incident was overlooked due to lack of evidence; however, because it was always considered a likely possibility that little Robert had been the victim of sexual abuse himself, and since Robert reportedly confirmed this years later, this occurrence involving his elder brother might be thought particularly revealing). I wish we could turn the clocks back," Mrs Venablessaid. Jobs were few and far between. It should certainly be moved up to 12; in some European countries it is 14," she said. Without anyone in the family to turn to for support, he had to look outside for people whose swaggering aggression he could emulate. The old wood panelled courtroom is small. CCTV images revealed how James had been lured away by Thompson and Venables, who was also aged 10. Jon Venables said the class teacher tried to entice Robert by offering him a prize for a week's continual attendance - he did, but the prize never came. They would hang around the video shop in Walton Village where the shop girl was pleased to have their company. But Robert was stuck in Walton with his older brothers and the baby. Thompson and Venables, now both 27 years old, are among only four individuals in the UK whose crimes are so notorious that they have been given lifelong anonymity. Susan Venables's bent body shrank deeper into itself. As their sweet voices rang around the courtroom, Venables hid his face in his oversized blazer and cried. His mother gave him pocket money to buy them. Both boys had been held back a year, and they were put in the same class. The police have uncovered no evidence of any abuse within either family. On countless occasions, Bobby battered his wife, once causing her to miscarry, and his temper didnt stop at his wife. Mr Venables said it had never crossed their minds that the video pictures from the security cameras in the shopping centre from which James went missing showed their own son. The street in which Robert lived was not untypical: a row of terraced bay windowed houses that stretched from the railway line back towards the city. In contrast he has had no contact with his father despite an approach soon after sentencing. Nine months later, I was one of 30 or so journalists inside Preston Crown Court when the trial began. "My heart really goes out to them. "In terms of knowing what the full consequences of your actions are, you are into older childhood or adolescence. Words with the drawing, full of spelling mistakes and grammatical. Robert passed this down the line bullying his eight-year-old brother into playing truant. At 2:30 they went to the two-story shopping centre. Susan Venables is on Facebook. Their kids have got everything, she added, bitterly. I have cried for JamesBulgermany times, so God only knows the tears his parents and family have shed. Moments later, we were told, Jon Venables uttered the words, We did it. The prosecution, led by Richard Henriques QC, made its case quite simply really, using the journey they took James on to tell the story. 'He always seemed perfectly well behaved and I think he looked on me as some kind of grandma. The fathers of both Robert and Jon were without work. Architect Shahed Saleem in the Ramadan Pavilion 2023 at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. as he was known in court - Jon Venables. God knows how they must be feeling now.. They passed 36 people, with one recalling how they urged the boys to take their 'little brother' home because he was 'crying for his mummy'. When they finally came to a disused railway track near the police station, the murderous duo tortured James, throwing stones and bricks at the baby, and kicking and stamping on him before finally dropping a heavy iron bar on to the defenceless tot. She said that Jon was always "loving, caring, thoughtful and considerate . In quest of companionship, he occasionally bullied his younger brother into truanting with him, and, in an effort to impress his peers, frequently boasted of his late-night exploits on the railway line, but failed to attract much attention. He was jailed for two years before being granted parole again in July 2013. MOST of the boys were bright. It was not until much later, when questioned as to his involvement in the death of James Bulger, that Roberts resentment towards the new baby became suddenly and painfully apparent. His mother was not so keen on the idea - they cost pounds 35 each.