Money was always a struggle, and she got through the first years drinking in Higson's Top House off St Mary's Lane. The week after he walked out the family's home burned down in an accidental fire. At school Jon was considered bright enough, though he had trouble keeping up with lessons. Big Bobby, like Anns father, was a violent alcoholic, who was easily crossed. Read about our approach to external linking. Thompson, who gained five GCSEs and A-levels in design and technology, is said to have developed an interest in theatre. 'When the fisticuffs ended, they made friends.' Robert was number five of seven. "He is easily led. 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. . Join Facebook to connect with Susan Venables and others you may know. We are proud to endorse the COP27 Leather Manifesto. There is, like, a little paint factory. Both parents hope was that he would make something of his life and eventually find some peace. qu fy. According to a legal source we spoke to this week, Jon Venables parents have sought to be a support for their son, despite the enormity of his crime. In March 2010, Venables was recalled to prison for downloading and distributing more than 100 images of child abuse. 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. It is just heartbreaking.". One of the focal points of the local community was QD Videos at the bottom of Robert's street, where the kids would browse through the horror stacks, discussing their favourites knowledgeably. as he was known in court - Jon Venables. Behind them eyes bore into them - from everyone on all sides, journalists, their parents, members of the public, and of course, theBulgerfamily. 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. 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'. They have never come out of hiding. 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. The atmosphere in the courtroom was oppressive as the tension of a month was about to break. Mr Venables said: "He wouldn't watch horror. Murder of James Bulger - Wikipedia They were drawn to one another quickly. It worked. He had been stripped from the waist down,. It seems likely that he was bullied. 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. She remained very frightened and felt that she and her son were the most hated people in the country. Not that he had any need to borrow his dad's. Their. Thompson got better opportunities there than if hed been walking the streets in Walton, says the author. Robert's mother agreed with her son's assessment: 'Name one family in the area who would have a good word for us.'. Shame? "'It wasnt fair to interview him. '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. He was in great distress' And what about the little, innocent boy he killed??! 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.. From a distance Robert looked a sweet child. Real bottom of the gut stuff, like an animal. I have cried for JamesBulgermany times, so God only knows the tears his parents and family have shed. Trauma? And now The Bulger Killers: Was Justice Done? At Preston Crown Court Thompsons mother Ann and Venables parents Neil and Sue sat side by side. But after a year they let Ian out again. But I still kept him in if he was naughty or anything like that.'. What's the least amount of exercise we can get away with? He was too scared to be naughty on his own. 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. He always had plenty of friends. sons, were settled in council houses within easy reach of the institutions where their sons were being held. cl gz. They rejected suggestions that he could have watched Child's Play Three, a film that his father had rented three weeks before James's death, which, it has been claimed, included scenes similar to those of the attack on the two-year-old. The bleached houses were peppered with burglar alarms, the shabby ones did not look worth the trouble. Our feelings haven't changed towards him. The final scene takes place among the tracks of a fun-fair ghost train where the doll, which resembles an infant with spiky hair has his face slashed before he is cut to pieces by a ventilator fan. Celestial. Robert would give Jon presents of stolen objects: trolls, of course, toy terrapins, sweets. The Crown Prosecution Service released a statement in January confirming Venables had been charged. . He started with Liverpool, but by the time of the murder he had switched to Blackburn Rovers. Another added: "An awful mistake??!! . The details of Jamess death were sickening. He says 'I know, Mum'. Nature. Susan Venables has blamed weakness for her sons role in the killing of James Bulger, claiming that he got involved with the wrong person. Although he appeared to have the more stable upbringing of the two boys, there was a history of family problems. "He tends to be a bit hyperactive so his concentration did go a bit, but apart from that he is quite bright, no worries.". He liked to spend the weekend on the streets. rk ye. The best instincts led hundreds, including me, to lay flowers a few days later at the site of James horrific end. He has had Christmas presents. Start your Independent Premium subscription today. It was their sons picked up by detectives. The press were gobbling it up. They had to report him missing at the security office before he was found, and Jon's mother was very angry. Denise, James Bugler's mother, went with her brother's girlfriend Nicola to the Bootle Strand Shopping Centre and took James with her. He was fearful of the other boy. Home of the Daily and Sunday Express. 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 didn't want to hurt James. At his first primary school the headmistress referred him to a psychologist, noting how he used to bang his head against the classroom wall to gain attention. Truanting, or 'sagging off', had become a way of life for Robert. His mother especially has been a tower of strength, says the source. A maudlin ballad about Liverpool was playing in the back- ground and she was cooking the dish known as Scouse. 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. After a while the boys became used to it. A police officer remembered Venables being so small that his legs didn't touch the floor as he sat in the custody office after his arrest. Both were banned from ever returning to Liverpool and given new identities at a reported cost of 1.5million. Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? The most agonising thing about the whole case was that so many people had stopped them and questioned them. On November 24, 1993, the two boys, by then aged 11, became the youngest defendants to be sentenced for murder in a British court. Susan and neil venables. 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. Witness after witness who had seen them, or stopped and asked them what was going on, took the stand. 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". Two boys who forged a friendship out of breaking the rules. 2023 BBC. When the fisticuffs ended, impressed by each other's performance, they made 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. Jon's parents, who sat in court for most of the trial, said they grieved for the Bulgers. 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. Every day the public gallery was packed with students, pensioners, mothers, teenagers, all drawn to the courtroom spectacle as to a TV soap. Read about our approach to external linking. But then, the whole of Robert's family was a bit like that - shunned, outcast, the butt of local criticism, and very well known to police. The sunrises through the sea mist over the sculpture The Couple by Sean Henry at Newbiggin-by-the-Sea on the Northumberland coast. 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. Then, one Friday in February, they discovered a new rule to break: they murdered a two-year-old. 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. We feel so sorry for him because he must be going through so much torment. Revealed: The horror drawing by Jon Venables weeks before he killed so they were put in a lower year. He would call people names and get them to chase him. I wish we could turn the clocks back," Mrs Venablessaid. It was the kind of family neighbours compare themselves against and then feel better. Both Ann and the children knew well the sting of palm against flesh, and Bobby often used these beatings to ensure that his wife and children conformed. Those who knew him well said he was a very emotional child, prone to mood swings. It should certainly be moved up to 12; in some European countries it is 14," she said. Venables was a different creature. I didnt connect the dots until much later on. With Neil seldom in contact with Susan or the children during this time, Susan was forced to contend with Jons escalating troubles alone, sometimes taking her own frustrations out on the children. ', Mrs Thompson had no illusions about her son: 'He's a little liar, he's devious, he's a scally, he robs, he plays truant.' How can people defend their actions .#TheBulgerKillers.". In the last few years she stopped drinking in the Top House and tried to keep things together. Hes your son., Unhappily, it was during this critical time that Ann became pregnant with her seventh child, the product of another failed relationship. 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. "I think about little James and what he must have gone through, how they must feel. 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. It is here, of course, that Jon met and made friends with fellow eccentric, Robert Thompson. They were intent on killing. this weekend for breaching the terms of his early release, the parents of both the Bulger killers continue to stand by them. At the end of the street a mesh wire frame coverered the window of the money lenders. The breaking point came when Jon was suspended from Broad Square after attempting to choke a classmate with a twelve-inch wooden ruler. UK news in pictures 15 February 2023. IN their interviews with the two boys, psychiatrists could find no clues to why the boys acted so violently. He stayed away from school so often the local police called him a professional truant. When social workers came round, they did so to see his sister and his brother, who had learning difficulties and was receiving special education. One could draw some parallels between the film's plot and James Bulger's death. Thompson admitted nothing. The experience gave Jon renewed confidence, and the second time they sagged off together he suggested it. 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. Chilling words of Jon Venables' parents resurface on 25th anniversary The trial though didnt, and was never designed to, shed light on how two such young children could be guilty of such sustained barbarity. Robert had eaten too many and felt sick. "One mystery surrounding the murder of James Bulger case is why the 'experts' insisted that Jon Venables was rehabilitated. God knows how they must be feeling now.. Ms Truss has written a 4,000-word essay in todays Sunday Telegraph in which she stood by her plans to boost economic growth during her short tenure in No 10, Liverpool goalkeeper Alisson Becker fails to stop team-mate Joel Matip (not pictured) from scoring an own goal during the Premier League match at Molineux Stadium, Wolverhampton, A member of the public lines the road into St Michaels on Wyre, Lancashire, with missing posters of Nicola Bulley, 45, as police continue their search for the missing woman who was last seen on the morning of Friday January 27, when she was spotted walking her dog on a footpath by the nearby River Wyre, Not your usual prisoner! Robert said 'If you tell anybody I'll get my big brother to batter you up'. But now and again. Facebook gives people the power. They had much in common. 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. Directly in front of the bench was the raised dock in which Thompson, Venables, and two social workers would sit for the next four weeks. I don't think they understood he was hyperactive. Both had a need to attract attention, which they achieved through a host of petty rebellions. Can Nigeria's election result be overturned? his killers were just 10 years old and attention focused on their upbringing and dysfunctional home life. Jon was slim in build and taller than Robert, just over five feet. He was jailed for two years before being granted parole again in July 2013.. Heck, we don't even have murderers that young in New York.'. For she added: 'But he's not a murderer.'. Yes, these things are important, but trust. 'The attitude when you live where we live is that you have to be tough or else you don't survive,' she said. See today's front and back pages, download the newspaper, order back issues and use the historic Daily Express newspaper archive. He has had security with loving parents and a loving brother and sister.". Forensic and pathology evidence was a huge challenge for everyone, not least the jury who were shown pictures of James injuries. 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. Moments later, we were told, Jon Venables uttered the words, We did it. He took a jar of paracetamol. Mrs Venables said: 'I think it was because the class group was too big for them to go in . 'I couldn't hear anything,' she said. He is broken- hearted over it. Dudson was given a minimum term of 18 years. They would sneak out during the morning break, hiding behind a wall before the coast was clear. 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. 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. In any case, the couple drifted together, and in 1983, just fifteen months succeeding Jons birth, Susan gave birth to their third child, a daughter. A smell of bleach lingered on some of the tiled steps that led up to the front doors. The citys worst instincts produced the wrongful hounding of a family whose sons people decided were responsible. It was a sign of such restlessness that he was unable to hang on to a football team for long - he kept shifting his allegiance like a floating voter. 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. Bulger killer had 'better life' after toddler murder - BBC News . After they became friends he initiated Jon into the delights of climbing into people's back gardens and the consequent thrill of being chased out by the owners. JON Venables's family was far from affluent, but it was not as close to the breadline as Robert's. The guilty verdicts came quickly - within five hours. This means that we may include adverts from us and third parties based on our knowledge of you. Jon's parents said they talked to their son about James after he was arrested, but had to stop. I got on with my job, but months later the impact of that trial had sunk in and a difficult, tearful, confusing year followed for me. His parents, Susan and Neil, accompanied him during the interview process. On one occasion one of Anns sons let his real name slip at school and they had to move almost at once, says. They deal with drugs, they deal with everything. He had that odd combination of obsession with and disdain for possessions that is characteristic of children who have never enjoyed any of their own. Without anyone in the family to turn to for support, he had to look outside for people whose swaggering aggression he could emulate. The taunts upset Jons already volatile temper, and he began coming home in increasingly low spirits and crying. After spending just eight years in custody, Britain's youngest killers were released and given lifetime anonymity in the UK. . kl. 'I even went up to the railway line because I knew the other boy had a den up there and was on the railway nearly all the time.'. 'His mum was more strict. One of the new works by Banksy, appears to show a 1950s housewife, wearing a classic blue pinny and yellow washing up gloves, with a swollen eye and a missing tooth seemingly shoving her male partner into a chest freezer, the piece is set on a white wall backdrop in Kent. Security launched a search for James inside the centre and James' family searched for their son overnight. Following the arrest of their sons it was reported that the mothers of the boys had been attacked and vilified in. Few had the patience to be friends with him, only his younger brother and a couple of lads who lived nearby. As their sweet voices rang around the courtroom, Venables hid his face in his oversized blazer and cried. Or they would mess around in shops, playing on computer games if Robert had his way, sliding on the polished floors if Jon had his. They were sent home to their mother at one point, but after attempting suicide with overdoses, were placed back into care. Architect Shahed Saleem in the Ramadan Pavilion 2023 at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. Venables parents were divorced but still lived within a stones throw of one another and were both involved in their sons upbringing. release. Jon Venables now: How old is James Bulger's killer? What happened to In some families this was the third generation to be unemployed. 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. Neston Town Council unveil plans for Good Friday Easter Market, Drivers at risk of a 1,000 fine for these simple number plate mistakes, Trip Advisor: Six best Chinese restaurants in Wirral, 'Pubs need to adapt' if they are going to survive the times ahead, Birchwood company donates huge 45,000 to children's hospice, Series of strict conditions placed on dog after Widnes attack, Xi Jinping's power grab - and why it matters, Street fighting in Bakhmut but Russia not in control, Saving Private Ryan actor Tom Sizemore dies at 61, The children left behind in Cuba's mass exodus, Snow, Fire and Lights: Photos of the Week. Mrs Thompson said she was so often called to Walton Lane police station to retrieve her truanting son that they should have given her a job there. 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. 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. 'Just mad. The Americans fed 1 1/2 minutes of the Jamie Bulger story into a 22-minute bulletin of national and international news. 'In my opinion he was victimised. Parents who stand by James's killers - Express.co.uk Recently, I dug out my old notebooks of the trial and my handwriting during the verdicts says it all. One police officer described how Jon Venables was so small, his legs were swinging in the air as he sat in the custody office. A newsroom reporter who was not working on the case fended off transatlantic interview demands, saying that it was not enough that he had a Liverpool accent. "An awful mistake for 10 year olds is shoplifting not murdering a 2 year old FFS," another angry viewer tweeted. Mrs Thompson claimed she had been the victim of revenge attacks after her identity became known. The case is doomed to be picked over by every faction within the caring professionals and politics. 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?". James Bulger: Jon Venables' identity leaked online - news 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. Thompson did what he often did, looked around, grabbing clumsily at his tongue. Mr Venables said that the two boys had played truant together four times before, adding that he caught them twice. Susan Venables agreed but on condition that she saw her son first. Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in, Parents of Jon Venables and Robert Thompson talk about their sons, Find your bookmarks in your Independent Premium section, under my profile. But Robert was stuck in Walton with his older brothers and the baby. One woman asked how James had injured his forehead. It is time to examine all this.". football, snooker, things like that. Jon's parents, who sat in court for most of the trial, said they grieved for the Bulgers. 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. That was in September 1991, 17 months before they killed James Bulger. But his outbursts of anger grew worse and he was suspended for trying to throttle a boy with a ruler. For a start, there were only three children, of whom Jon was the middle. Little Bobby went to visit his brothers every so often, eager to show them the latest playthings he had robbed from the assorted shops nearby. You know, we just try and help him as best we can to try to come to terms with things. 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. 'I think about little James and what he must have gone through, how they must feel. There is hatred and envy directed at the baby - a wish to see it suffer in the way they have suffered. Sitting in the new class was a chubby boy with a cherub's face - Robert Thompson. In return, Jon would let Robert ride his bicycle, and from time to time he would suggest naughty deeds himself. Such a childish voice. 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. 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. the street. . In March 2010, Venables was recalled to prison for downloading and distributing more than 100 images of child abuse. I am providing this page for those who are interested in learning more about the lives of these boys prior to their offense. He would steal objects that he neither needed nor wanted, then chuck them away in the street. The pair were handed new identities after being released from prison. "He is easily led. She said that Jon was always "loving, caring, thoughtful and considerate . One neighbour said she always let him into her home whenever his mother was out. The primary concern among the faculty was Roberts growing amount of absences. For me, though, it is Susan and Neil Venables who stay most in my memory of that day. Robert said 'If you tell anybody I'll get my big brother to batter you up'. A video still of James Bulger, aged 2 years old, being led away in the 'New Strand' shopping centre. Everyone called him Chubby, because of his round, cherub's face. 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. James Bulger murder: Shelagh Fogarty remembers the trial The Royal Mint of a 50p coin featuring Professor Albus Dumbledore as part of a Harry Potter-themed collection. 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'. Forlorn hope, though. 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. WALTON, where they both lived, is, in the jargon of planning, an inner-city urban priority area; neither the best nor the worst the city has to offer. Depressed, Ann began drinking heavily and was taking narcotics which caused her to hallucinate. susan venables - Director - Juju & Co | LinkedIn But viewers were shocked when experts "defended" the 10-year-old murderers saying they made "an awful mistake". They went on family outings together, slept together, and when Susan did find a place, virtually coexisted between the two homes. Some of the red brick houses were well-kept, others had torn net curtains and grubby windows. He was always getting prizes for maths at school. He was fearful, he was weak and he was provoked," she said. INSIDE the court sat the two boys, dwarfed by the weight and majesty of the place. portrayed him as the leader and evil one, says James Smith. 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. 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. They knew what they were doing," another wrote. Birds. 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. He wanted a Rovers strip for his birthday present. Not for long though. 'In this state it is quite painful to see a normal relationship between mother and child. Jon's first year after he was moved was relatively successful. The police have uncovered no evidence of any abuse within either family.