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As his killers began their sentences, such was the revulsion that it was already clear their families could not. The guilty verdicts came quickly - within five hours. Jon Venables is demonstrably no such thing. The bleached houses were peppered with burglar alarms, the shabby ones did not look worth the trouble. He has had his holidays like everyone else. 'I sat away from him - he caused trouble,' Jon said. 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. Just seeing the size of them that first time, the childish figures they naturally were, caught my breath. There is hatred and envy directed at the baby - a wish to see it suffer in the way they have suffered. 'In this state it is quite painful to see a normal relationship between mother and child. Robert is not believed to have reoffended - Venables has been convicted twice since being set free. 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. 'I walked round for a couple of hours trying to find them. Trauma? David Sharrock, Maggie O'Kane, and Edward Pilkington look at the lives of the rebels who turned to killing, Original reporting and incisive analysis, direct from the Guardian every morning. The reaction prompted James' mum Denise Fergus to let supporters know she had nothing to do with the programme. The trial though didnt, and was never designed to, shed light on how two such young children could be guilty of such sustained barbarity. 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. See today's front and back pages, download the newspaper, order back issues and use the historic Daily Express newspaper archive. 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. I just burst into tears because you just knew what that meanther heart was broken. This would have been at about 5.30pm - just the time the boys were about to begin killing Jamie. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Then they had carried, dragged and kicked him along a two and a half mile journey, at times swinging him violently in the air or dropping him against the road, until they reached the railway where they stoned him with bricks, bashed his head with a 22lb iron bar, and left him dead across the tracks to be cut in half by a passing goods train. I barely need to refer to my notes to remember in great detail the events that would dominate British news for years. IN their interviews with the two boys, psychiatrists could find no clues to why the boys acted so violently. 2023 BBC. In the years between Venabless first return to prison and this latest conviction he was deemed to be living successfully in the community, when in fact he was working out ways to dodge his internet ban and hiding a computer in his headboard in order to download abusive images of children, including what the judge described this week as serious crimes inflicted on male toddlers. I have cried for JamesBulgermany times, so God only knows the tears his parents and family have shed. And now The Bulger Killers: Was Justice Done? Without anyone in the family to turn to for support, he had to look outside for people whose swaggering aggression he could emulate. Other parents came in to complain about attention seeking. One police officer described how Jon Venables was so small, his legs were swinging. . Ann tried to discourage this by hiding his shoes, or by taking him down to the Walton Lane police station and having the officer on duty frighten him into compliance, but to no avail. His mates called him a girl because whenever there was something on his mind he sucked his thumb. Egypt. Members of the Up Helly Aa 'Jarl Squad' parade through the streets in Lerwick, Shetland Islands, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon using a camera during her visit to BBC Studioworks in Glasgow, Passersby chat with the police as they arrive to see King Charles III and the Princess Royal attend a church service at St Mary Magdalene Church in Sandringham, Norfolk, People at a vigil at Lurgan Park in Lurgan, Co Armagh in memory of murder victim Natalie McNally and opposing violence against women, Firefighters use hoses to dampen down at the scene of a fire at St Marks Church in Hamilton Terrace, St Johns Wood, London, which has been destroyed by the blaze which began in the early hours of the morning, Huskies pull their musher during a training run before this weekends annual Aviemore Sled Dog Rally, in Feshiebridge, A knitted topper celebrating Burns Night placed on a post box in Alloway, Ayrshire, Deer graze during sunrise at Ashton Court Estate, Bristol, where clear misty skies and a cold morning brings frost across parts of the south west UK, Ambulance workers on the picket line outside the Donnington Ambulance Hub, at Donnington, near Telford, Shropshire. In court, he hid his face again. A smell of bleach lingered on some of the tiled steps that led up to the front doors. Robert passed this down the line bullying his eight-year-old brother into playing truant. Eventually, Bobby walked out on his family, but not before beating his wife one final time. 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. Last week the author Angela Phillips spoke of how the gentle son of the female friend of hers turned into a fascist skinhead: 'The boy his mother wanted him to become was not man enough for the world he was forced to inhabit. "The report of the Prison Service into an incident at Red Bank secure unit has not been published. He is broken- hearted over it. Jon's parents, who sat in court for most of the trial, said they grieved for the Bulgers. "It is hard to take in really. Such pleasantries were not for Robbie. Meanwhile Robert Thompson always regarded as the ringleader and the most likely of the murderous duo to fall by the wayside is said to be doing well. He has had security with loving parents and a loving brother and sister.". Denise Fergus is the same age as me, a fact I only registered when I met her for the first time two weeks ago. For his parents, the fact they were children was actually a cause for hope at that point. Jon breaks into hysteria whenever the subject is mentioned. She got her drinking under control and began giving her murderer son the attention he. Some people thought they were as old as 12 or 13, but when they met they were both only 10 years old. The hardliners in the police have a simpler explanation. Depressed, Ann began drinking heavily and was taking narcotics which caused her to hallucinate. has prompted a public outcry for an investigation into issues surrounding the case. You know, we just try and help him as best we can to try to come to terms with things. Nature. ROBERT had a reputation in the neighbourhood for being a troublemaker. Now we waited. It was their sons picked up by detectives. We feel so sorry for him because he must be going through so much torment. One investigating police officer said: 'You could look into the eyes of Robert and knew you were looking at evil.' Another time they were saucy and asked a sales girl if she stocked 'fishy nickers'. 'When the fisticuffs ended, they made friends.' It is here, of course, that Jon met and made friends with fellow eccentric, Robert Thompson. 'Sometimes I told Robbie to do things so he does,' he told a police officer, with pride in his voice. 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. fun to be with". Susan Venables is on Facebook. Occasionally, when the children would be left sitting on the red wall outside the house too long, one of the neighbours would call the police to go and get her out of the Top House. It was on his way back to the interview room when Venables finally admitted it: "We did it. But he liked collecting trolls, little doll-like creatures with ugly faces and spiky fluorescent hair. By chance, the rest of Jon's family was driving past and spotted them. 'Provided you have no court orders for debts already,' the man on the phone would add helpfully. Thompson was inscrutable in the dock as we heard his voice for the first time. One of Anns sons claimed that Ann, too, had beaten them with sticks, and had struck one of the boys with a cane. Will you tell his mum I'm sorry?". At Radio City in Liverpool the calls were coming through from Australia, New Zealand and Canada. Facebook gives people the power. 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). Verdict day came. "Just TV programmes and little things remind me of the good times we had together . That was in September 1991, 17 months before they killed James Bulger. 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. 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. But that is the common lot of thousands of 10-year-olds who have not turned into murderers. Anne Thompson could hold her drink and no one ever saw her staggering home. Get out and get into Dyson Hall children's centre, the only residential care school in the country just outside Liverpool. Big Bobby, like Anns father, was a violent alcoholic, who was easily crossed. But after a year they let Ian out again. He liked to spend the weekend on the streets. 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. "I think about little James and what he must have gone through, how they must feel. "'It wasnt fair to interview him. We have found 88 people in the UK with the name Susan Venables. Few had the patience to be friends with him, only his younger brother and a couple of lads who lived nearby. 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. After a while he tried to commit suicide to get back in. Teachers hold placards as they shout slogans while taking part in a protest organised in Manchester as part of a national strike day. Robert said 'If you tell anybody I'll get my big brother to batter you up'. The right will draw attention to the broken homes, the single parents, the persistent truancy. It was when Jon turned seven that Susan and the children had relocated to Norris Green, one of Liverpools larger, more reputable areas. Behind them eyes bore into them - from everyone on all sides, journalists, their parents, members of the public, and of course, theBulgerfamily. Facebook gives people the power to share and makes the world more open and connected. Many of us had dined together most nights throughout the trial, mulling it all over but distracting ourselves, too. Ultimately, wanting to escape the havoc, most of the boys opted to leave home, and some were placed into voluntary care at Dysons Hall, a childrens home just outside of Liverpool. Some of the red brick houses were well-kept, others had torn net curtains and grubby windows. As a new documentary is set to air on ITV, the haunting words of Jon Venables' parents have resurfaced. 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. 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. Ann denied the physical abuse, but later admitted to being cruel to the boys at times. I have lost my son as well. Grainy CCTV footage shows them walking James away from the Strand . He always had plenty of friends. In Crosbies corner shop Ian, the next oldest to Robert, was able to tot up the shopping in his mind before the cash register rang up the total. Both of them struggled at school and had been lumped into the year below their age. "Contrary to what the papers will tell you, he is not a little urchin boy. In the last few years she stopped drinking in the Top House and tried to keep things together. 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. . Facebook gives people the power. ", 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.". View the profiles of people named Susan Venables. Jon had to be pulled off the boy, who had gone red in the face, by a teacher who described the incident as the worst case of school violence she had witnessed. What's the least amount of exercise we can get away with? 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. For a start, there were only three children, of whom Jon was the middle. I said no. The left will make play of social deprivation, unemployment, bad housing and general inner-city rot. Instead, she was involved in an ITV documentary with Sir Trevor McDonald that will air on Thursday. One time they sagged off with Robert's younger brother, which went disastrously wrong. As a result of the incident, Jon's mother decided to move him to another school. Asked later if he could recall a time when his brother had exhibited any unusually aggressive tendencies, Roberts brother said no: Hes frightened of his own shadow. Nonetheless, in hindsight, its safe to assume that by 1993, ten-year-old Robert was swiftly approaching crisis point., Alarmingly, some of the neighboring children later claimed to have seen Robert behave cruelly towards animals, and pull the heads off of baby pigeons, although this was never unequivocally confirmed. Her family were dignified throughout, but on that day one of theBulgerfamily supporters allowed themselvesa loud 'YES' as the verdicts came in. I am not sure if in fact he was seen by the school psychologist, but I did complete a form for him.. The boys, by now lacking any sense of guidance within the home, took to the streets, robbing, truanting, and some of them experimenting with drugs. When Jon's parents gave a recent press interview, it was Mrs Venables who did most of the talking; the father just sat and cried. The family was put up in a hostel temporarily and later relocated by the social services. A video still of James Bulger, aged 2 years old, being led away in the 'New Strand' shopping centre. Venables, who was released on licence in 2001 after serving eight years for the murder of two-year-old James, was returned to prison last November after he was caught with the pictures. The government will be required to respond within 14 days if as the petition achieves more than 100,000 signatures. I couldnt make any sense of it, Robert later recalled, desolately, when asked about his fathers unexpected departure. I would say he was provoked. A pathologist later said that there were so many injuries - 42 in total - that not one could be isolated as causing the little boy's fatal wound. They did. "What he's done is wrong so he needs to be punished. . Jon was also mad on computers. They played a double act towards the children: his mother, Susan, aged 36, a sharp woman with a hawkish look, was the hard one. But his comment sparked anger from viewers. Money, or his family's lack of it, preyed on his mind. Sometimes Robert would sag off on his own, but it was more fun with a friend. Susan seemed happy with the arrangement, although, for the children, this type of relationship would have been just one more confusing anomaly to cope with in the wake of an already confusing time in their young lives. He frequented local cinemas and regularly hired videos for the night. . 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The parents of James Bulgers killers have also come to learn that the consequences of that terrible day will stay with them for ever too. The old wood panelled courtroom is small. He believes these were evil boys. Half way through the 1992-1993 school year, Robert had already racked up nearly 50 unauthorized absences, and was falling significantly behind in his schoolwork. The most agonising thing about the whole case was that so many people had stopped them and questioned them. . Venables was caught with 1,170 indecent photos of children on his laptop, the Old Bailey was told. Robert said 'If you tell anybody I'll get my big brother to batter you up'. Robert Thompson was born to Robert Sr. and Ann Thompson on the 23rd day of August 1982, in Liverpool, England. qu fy. si fs. 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. 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. I don't think they understood he was hyperactive. When Robert was asked what his hobby was he did not say trolls but 'skipping school'. portrayed him as the leader and evil one, says James Smith. 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. On the 20 year anniversary of the murder of James Bulger, BBC Radio 5 Live's Shelagh Fogarty recalls the trial of his young killers. Truanting, or 'sagging off', had become a way of life for Robert. They fled the city, never to return. Some neighbours claim they saw the boy snaring birds into traps in the back yard of his home, while one local youth claimed he saw the boy pull the heads off live baby pigeons. ', The closest either boy came to offering an explanation was when Jon was asked by police why he had taken James's shoe off by the railway tracks. However, you will find some great articles which you can comment on right now in our Comment section. Yes, these things are important, but trust. His body was found two days later on a railway line. They looked, moved, fidgeted, scratched, cried - even sucked their thumbs - just like any 11-year-olds. Neil Venables, 40, said he felt "just devastated, thinking of that little boy'. The petition, that now has 14,682 signatures, reads: "We want a Public Inquiry into the James Bulger murder case. I know how I feel as a mother. Their kids have got everything. The first Susan Venables knew they had stayed away from school was when she saw one of Jon's classmates on her way home with the gerbils. It worked. But now and again. Once the jury retired, so did the journalists - but we didnt go far. 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. Jon's parents said they talked to their son about James after he was arrested, but had to stop. The week after he walked out the family's home burned down in an accidental fire. Venables on the other hand was becoming increasingly agitated in the police interviews. We still think the same of him as we always have. This happened, more often than not, at night, when they refused to go to bed when told. 'It was good. But. 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. Her warnings arent being heeded, but 25 years on, I think she is probably right. Shed never been back but she clearly missed Liverpool and had tried to recreate the city in her new home, he recalls. A maudlin ballad about Liverpool was playing in the back- ground and she was cooking the dish known as Scouse. While, on the face of it, there doesnt appear to be as much external devastation present in Jons family history as in Roberts, his outlandish behavior suggested that internally, Jon was in a state of extreme emotional upset. His former wife would send their boys up the street to give their father the fingers through the bay windows of his mother's house. The case of James, a two-year-old who was snatched from a shopping centre in Bootle, Liverpool, in 1993, before being tortured and left to die, shocked the nation. Neither gave evidence to the court, but were found guilty after an officer told how Venables admitted the murder, saying, "We did it. The end of the court case was not the end of course. At the end of the street a mesh wire frame coverered the window of the money lenders. Fiction Writing. The Swedes, French, Germans, Canadian and Americans had all come to gaze at Liverpool's child killers. See that cell. Click here to find personal data about Susan Venables including phone numbers, addresses, directorships, electoral roll information, related property prices and other useful information. His parents say he is 'broken-hearted'. She was paranoid about being discovered. But he is not a murderer. This time, curiosity took the upper hand: 'I wanted to see what it was like,' he said. However, given that the tension in the household was persistent throughout the most crucial of Jons formative years, the belief that he had moved through the ordeal entirely unaffected is questionable. Jon's first year after he was moved was relatively successful. He once came to me crying saying the other boys were picking on him, trying to steal his bike.'. release. fn ye vw la. Murder of James Bulger. By then, Robert and Jon had abducted James Bulger from the Strand and attempted to drown him in the nearby canal. "My heart really goes out to them. He had a Game Boy console and hankered after a Sega machine, and when they played truant he would head straight for the computer game corner of Tandy's or Dixons. Security launched a search for James inside the centre and James' family searched for their son overnight. Born on August 13th, 1982, Jon was the middle child of Neil and Susan Venables. I wonder how many parents looked at their sons of a similar age that week, sure in the knowledge their own children could never be so wicked, but asked themselves anyway "what would I do if?". Read about our approach to external linking. I dont think she saw a very happy future., The author says there was no contact with the Venables family after the trial as Mrs Thompson focused, her energy on supporting her son, refusing to accept he was a monster. He was fearful of the other boy. But curiosity drew him towards Robert in equal measure. Not that he had any need to borrow his dad's. They said their son met Robert Thompson in September 1991, when Jon was transferred from another school. 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. His father, Neil, an unemployed panel-beater, was separated from his mother but they lived only a mile apart, saw each other every other day, and took equal care of the children. This time we came together in shock and disbelief. A heartstopping moment came when the playing of the tapes in court was paused. 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. He was fearful, he was weak and he was provoked. The two bumped into each other - literally - in the school playground in the middle of a fight. Resentful of her husbands lack of involvement with the children, Susan conceded that the couple fought constantly, especially throughout 1983, but maintained that Neil had never been aggressive towards her, nor had she hit him. Or by navigating to the user icon in the top right. He did like to be liked, and loved to have friends, and he has got involved with the wrong person.". At the trialnine months laterI would learn that Robert Thompson had been among those people. Their. Who were their parents? Our feelings haven't changed towards him. They were intent on killing. Its beyond me," one viewer tweeted. The Americans fed 1 1/2 minutes of the Jamie Bulger story into a 22-minute bulletin of national and international news. Read about our approach to external linking. It was during this time that Susan, having suffered from clinical depression for many years, had experienced what were later described as two traumatic incidences, both of which Jon would have witnessed. That means he is currently 35-years-old. On Monday night's documentary, Robert Thompson's solicitor Dominic Lloyd said: "Many years after the trial a juror said 'we found them guilty of murder but we didn't have the option to find them guilty of being two very bewildered and frightened little boys who made an awful mistake and need a lot of help'.".