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. I have cried for JamesBulgermany times, so God only knows the tears his parents and family have shed. From the moment Robert Thompson and Jon Venables were convicted of the murder of James Bulger, their, families have been condemned to lives spent looking over their shoulders. What's the least amount of exercise we can get away with? He said that on the day James was killed, when he went to the school in the afternoon to collect Jon he was told his son was missing. Denise Fergus is the same age as me, a fact I only registered when I met her for the first time two weeks ago. In March 2010, Venables was recalled to prison for downloading and distributing more than 100 images of child abuse. Robert always wanted to stay out late and encouraged Jon to join him. Meanwhile, A petition demanding a public inquiry into James Bulger's murder case has got nearly 15,000 signatures in one day. 'I can't read hard words,' he said. The press were gobbling it up. The atmosphere in the courtroom was oppressive as the tension of a month was about to break. 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. Police respond to reporters of a swan being removed from the harbour by a drunk male before it being involved in a collision on Mutley Plain. Susan Venabless bent body shrank deeper into itself. He was given a new name, a job and a flat on his release to try to ensure his security . Ann and Bobby fought regularly in front of the children, with virtually all of the fights leading to physical violence. Denise, James Bugler's mother, went with her brother's girlfriend Nicola to the Bootle Strand Shopping Centre and took James with her. Shortly after the breakup, an accidental fire destroyed the Thompsons home, leaving Ann homeless, jobless, and with little money to support her kids. Left to his own devices Jon liked to spend his playtime in fairly sedentary ways. It worked. ", Children accused of a crime are usually granted anonymity, but at the end of the trial the judge allowed both to be named, "because the public interest overrode the interest of the defendants.". My young body must have been tense with the deep anxiety that permeated every inch of that courtroom. Can Nigeria's election result be overturned? The breaking point came when Jon was suspended from Broad Square after attempting to choke a classmate with a twelve-inch wooden ruler. Words with the drawing, full of spelling mistakes and grammatical. . Something went wrong, please try again later. Susan Venables - People Directory - 192.com Thompson & Venebales. He wore his dark hair short, almost a crew cut, which accentuated his ample forehead and blunt nose. But apart from his brother, Robert struggled to build friendships. The Bulger Murder: Mother cannot believe that 'devious' child killed: 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. James Bulger would now be weeks away from his 23rd birthday. The details of Jamess death were sickening. susan and neil venables It should certainly be moved up to 12; in some European countries it is 14," she said. He is one of those children that if you told him to put his hand in the fire, he would. At Preston Crown Court Thompsons mother Ann and Venables parents Neil and Sue sat side by side. He believes these were evil boys. But they shouldn't have been tried in an adult court because they were still children. He wanted a Rovers strip for his birthday present. Nicola had to exchange some clothes at TJ Hughes, Denise waited nearby, watching the children. He gets upset. 'If, in their own lives, they have had it extremely tough and been bullied and neglected and abused then they end up rapidly having to prove themselves to be extremely tough and invulnerable - a bit like Arnold Shwarzenegger in The Terminator. 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. One neighbour said she always let him into her home whenever his mother was out. 'It was very dark and I shouted down, shouted his name. IN A letter to her son written soon after he was sentenced, Ann Thompson wrote: no matter what you did or didnt do, Im your mother and I will stay with you no matter what happens.. 'When you have got people in the area threatening to blow your kneecaps off every moment of the day - that's just the way they are. James mother Denise Fergus has been saying this for a long time, but still we hoped that the boy who savaged a tiny child to death could become a man safe to be in our midst. It was the kind of family neighbours compare themselves against and then feel better. I didnt connect the dots until much later on. Bulger killer had 'better life' after toddler murder - BBC News Few will ever forget the chilling footage of two 10-year-old boys holding a toddler's hand as they led him to his death. Their age was hard to gauge from the CCTV images, so just when you imagined you couldnt be more shocked by this story, it emerged the two accused were just 10-years-old. She acknowledged her son had committed a terrible crime but claimed that her innocent younger children were being denied a proper education because of having to abandon their homes to escape attacks. Mrs Venables has also said that she felt. . This time, curiosity took the upper hand: 'I wanted to see what it was like,' he said. Venables was caught with 1,170 indecent photos of children on his laptop, the Old Bailey was told. 'They would say 'take your son home'. Denise Bulger believes her son's murderers - men now - should be in prison for ever. Jon breaks into hysteria whenever the subject is mentioned. Forensic and pathology evidence was a huge challenge for everyone, not least the jury who were shown pictures of James injuries. Then they would hide their school satchels under a subway and set off on their adventure. Susan Venables, mother of Jon - referred to throughout the trial as Boy B - blamed her son's 'weakness' for the murder of James Bulger, and said he was going through torment. Robert said 'If you tell anybody I'll get my big brother to batter you up'. Less thanfive hours laterthe verdicts were in. Chilling words of Jon Venables' parents resurface on 25th anniversary It was when Jon turned seven that Susan and the children had relocated to Norris Green, one of Liverpools larger, more reputable areas. Everton was his team. The end of the court case was not the end of course. The family was put up in a hostel temporarily and later relocated by the social services. She visited regularly and they would hold family anniversaries in the, place where he was held. Jon was slim in build and taller than Robert, just over five feet. At the time Ann Thompson pleaded for her son to be left alone and revealed that she and her other children had been forced to move house nine times in eight years. His parents say he is 'broken-hearted'. For his parents, the fact they were children was actually a cause for hope at that point. By chance, the rest of Jon's family was driving past and spotted them. qu fy. There is, like, a little paint factory. Apart from Jon's incident with the ruler, there had been no record of previous violence. Without anyone in the family to turn to for support, he had to look outside for people whose swaggering aggression he could emulate. Robert is not believed to have reoffended - Venables has been convicted twice since being set free. '25 years after the James Bulger trial, I still shed hot tears at the Robert was number five of seven. Fiction Writing. Read about our approach to external linking. They said their son met Robert Thompson in September 1991, when Jon was transferred from another school. The hardliners in the police have a simpler explanation. Such pleasantries were not for Robbie. He has had Christmas presents. And now The Bulger Killers: Was Justice Done? I'm bringing up on my own but if I went round and screwed every warehouse my children would have everything too.'. Murder of James Bulger - Wikipedia That was in September 1991, 17 months before they killed James Bulger. Child Killer - Thompson & Venables - Murder in the Uk Twenty-five years on, Im still prone to hot tears at the memory of it all and I do question the trial. He was a loyal fan, though he did not go often to Goodison Park. See that cell. Teachers hold placards as they shout slogans while taking part in a protest organised in Manchester as part of a national strike day. DAVID James Smith, who visited Mrs Thompson at one of her secret homes, reveals that it was a sad existence. S. Susan venables. They had to report him missing at the security office before he was found, and Jon's mother was very angry. Shame? Why would I want to kill him? he said, referring to the slain toddler. On the days he was at school he had a knack for stirring things up. But his comment sparked anger from viewers. Their kids have got everything, she added, bitterly. They deal with drugs, they deal with everything. Channel 5 is set to air a new two-part documentary that tells the definitive story of . By then, Robert and Jon had abducted James Bulger from the Strand and attempted to drown him in the nearby canal. 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. 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. "It is hard to take in really. Neil explained to him that the school they attended was special, and that Jon wouldnt be accepted. The police have uncovered no evidence of any abuse within either family. The case is doomed to be picked over by every faction within the caring professionals and politics. So much happened whilst I was there involving Jon. He did like to be liked, and loved to have friends, and he has got involved with the wrong person.". 'I couldn't be arsed talking about them,' said one. I came back and then (Mrs Venables) went out. Shed never been back but she clearly missed Liverpool and had tried to recreate the city in her new home, he recalls. 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 report of the Prison Service into an incident at Red Bank secure unit has not been published. 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 an old-fashioned crime and punishment man. I cant believe people find excuses for these murderers. 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. The primary concern among the faculty was Roberts growing amount of absences. Three years ago, after his mother walloped him, he went to social services and asked them to put him in care. 'Provided you have no court orders for debts already,' the man on the phone would add helpfully. Toddler James Bulger disappeared on February 12 1993. Hes your son., Unhappily, it was during this critical time that Ann became pregnant with her seventh child, the product of another failed relationship. Unemployment levels were more than twice the national average in Walton. Mrs Thompson claimed she had been the victim of revenge attacks after her identity became known. The detective explained how, before she left, she soothed him, told him his parents would love him whatever he told the police, reminding him that Denise neededto know what had happened to her baby. It is just heartbreaking.". Susan Venables's bent body shrank deeper into itself. They have never come out of hiding. Money was always a struggle, and she got through the first years drinking in Higson's Top House off St Mary's Lane. ql zo. On November 24, 1993, the two boys, by then aged 11, became the youngest defendants to be sentenced for murder in a British court. "One mystery surrounding the murder of James Bulger case is why the 'experts' insisted that Jon Venables was rehabilitated. The Radio Merseyside newsroom, where I was working at the time, was full and everyone was on this story one way or another. his mother was told that it was important that she stayed in his life and stood by him. As his killers began their sentences, such was the revulsion that it was already clear their families could not. They saw it with their eyes. The haunting words of Jon Venables' parents only interview have resurfaced, twenty five years after he killed tot Jamie Bulger. Start your Independent Premium subscription today. The boys at Dyson Hall were the object of some envy among their mates because they were given tracksuits and trainers upon arrival and went on trips to Alton Towers. But just as he was entering the school gates he met Jon and they decided to sag off together for the fourth - and final - time. 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. 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. But viewers were shocked when experts "defended" the 10-year-old murderers saying they made "an awful mistake". 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. One police officer described how Jon Venables was so small, his legs were swinging in the air as he sat in the custody office. But however hollow a gesture it might have seemed, those who are in touch with the Thompson and Venables families insist that they have sought to make some sort of amends with their sons after the horrific events of 17 years ago that will rightly stay with them for the rest of their lives. Behind them eyes bore into them - from everyone on all sides, journalists, their parents, members of the public, and of course, theBulgerfamily. 'They were just your average scruff - like the rest of us.'. 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. 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. Mr Venables said that the two boys had played truant together four times before, adding that he caught them twice. 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. We will never be able to do the fun things any more . "I think my son's concentration wasn't the way it should have been, but he wasn't slow. Facebook gives people the power to share and makes the world more open and connected. Whatever problems she had in her own life, she was always there. She was a woman as large in personality and physique as the burdens she carried. The old wood panelled courtroom is small. The couple fought frequently as to their eldest sons troubles, which they later learned included mild learning difficulties, and Susan, at times becoming so exasperated by the situation, began to resent her sons presence. fun to be with" and always had plenty of friends. In 2010, Meggie Atkinson, then children's commissioner for England, called for the age of criminal responsibility to be raised to 12 in light of the trial. As a result of the incident, Jon's mother decided to move him to another school. 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. Both of them struggled at school and had been lumped into the year below their age. Once the jury retired, so did the journalists - but we didnt go far. The Killing of James Bulger: Where are Robert Thompson and Jon Venables Among the list were several horror films, including one video in which the police took special interest: Child's Play 3, a film which carries the line 'Children are consumer trainees'. That was in September 1991, 17 months before they killed James Bulger. Maybe it was that incident that put the idea into Jon or Robbie's head to 'get a little boy lost'. Real bottom of the gut stuff, like an animal. A day later, when James still hadnt been found, it was clear from CCTV footage that he had been taken by children. His parents, Susan and Neil, accompanied him during the interview process. "It was very dark and I shouted down, shouted his name. the street. He would call people names and get them to chase him. There, he is terrorising a girl. 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. She remained very frightened and felt that she and her son were the most hated people in the country. Susan Venables - Facebook His mates called him a girl because whenever there was something on his mind he sucked his thumb. When the fisticuffs ended, impressed by each other's performance, they made friends. While Robert was described as a wily child, known to tell lies, most of the St. Marys school staff agreed that the boy posed little trouble, and, if and when he attended, was generally well-mannered during class. The best instincts led hundreds, including me, to lay flowers a few days later at the site of James horrific end. JON Venables's family was far from affluent, but it was not as close to the breadline as Robert's. But his outbursts of anger grew worse and he was suspended for trying to throttle a boy with a ruler. Not for long though. I just think of James and his Dad and about all that fun with his little boy, like I had with Jon.". He always had plenty of friends. Kids fantasise about such things. James' mother Denise believes they should have remained in jail for life and has tirelessly campaigned against their rights to anonymity. Jon's parents said they talked to their son about James after he was arrested, but had to stop. So, when he first began his association with classmate Jon Venables, in September 1992, Robert was happy to have finally befriended a boy like Jon, who could almost always be persuaded to follow in his lead. If I wanted to kill a baby, Id kill Id kill me own, wouldnt I?. Born on August 13th, 1982, Jon was the middle child of Neil and Susan Venables. 'I sat away from him - he caused trouble,' Jon said. Aged 10, he was barely literate. He disliked Thunderbirds because of the puppets' 'stringy thingies'. In Jon's case, 'hyperactivity' went beyond mere fidgeting into outbursts of sudden anger and violence. But. "What he's done is wrong so he needs to be punished. . ', 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. IN their interviews with the two boys, psychiatrists could find no clues to why the boys acted so violently. I feel so sorry for them. King Charles III shakes hands with Ukraines President Volodymyr Zelensky as he welcomes at Buckingham Palace, in London, ahead of an audience during his first visit to the UK since the Russian invasion of Ukraine. 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. And in Lower Lane police station when he was being questioned about the murder she had to be told that her harsh words were inhibiting him from confessing. 'I couldn't hear anything,' she said. Home of the Daily and Sunday Express. Venables and Thompson abducted, tortured and killed two-year-old James in Liverpool in 1993 when they were both aged just 10. He would go to bed. Jon's parents, who sat in court for most of the trial, said they grieved for the Bulgers. Liked by susan venables. "I think about little James and what he must have gone through, how they must feel. One investigating police officer said: 'You could look into the eyes of Robert and knew you were looking at evil.' I wasnt on duty that day, so the very beginnings of the story washed over me. I am providing this page for those who are interested in learning more about the lives of these boys prior to their offense. Ann Thompson and Susan and Neil Venables didn't need to imagine. She was prone to hysteria and hailed from a 'strict and disciplined' background. "You look at him and you say to yourself, 'How could you be involved in anything like this?'" 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. On November 24, 1993, Robert Thompson and Jon Venables became the youngest persons to be convicted of murder in Britain in almost 250 years, when the pair, both eleven, was found guilty of the abduction and murder of two-year-old James Patrick Bulger. 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.