Lock him in it.'. The haunting words of Jon Venables' parents only interview have resurfaced, twenty five years after he killed tot Jamie Bulger. The couple, who also have a 13- year-old son, who has learning difficulties, and a 9-year-old daughter, denied that Jon was bullied by his brother or that he watched violent horror films at home. Everyone called him Chubby, because of his round, cherub's face. The government will be required to respond within 14 days if as the petition achieves more than 100,000 signatures. Ann denied the physical abuse, but later admitted to being cruel to the boys at times. 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. Susan was known as the town " whore". She said that Jon was always "loving, caring, thoughtful and considerate . She was paranoid about being discovered. Denise was in court that day. It's high time they were investigated. He had been stripped from the waist down,. It would be a week before we heard their voices, in hours of taped police interviews, They stopped us all in our tracks. 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. But his progress took a nose dive in September 1991 when he was transferred into another class. Thompson did what he often did, looked around, grabbing clumsily at his tongue. 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. Ultimately, however, the couples indifferences led to separation, and they were eventually divorced in 1986. He carried books on wrestling and wildlife in his school bag. More often, he would pinch them from local shops. He was jailed for two years before being granted parole again in July 2013. 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. James Bulger would now be weeks away from his 23rd birthday. 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. So he came home. 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'.". One time they sagged off with Robert's younger brother, which went disastrously wrong. 'Provided you have no court orders for debts already,' the man on the phone would add helpfully. They played truant, they pinched sweets, they terrorised old ladies. Ann and Bobby fought regularly in front of the children, with virtually all of the fights leading to physical violence. This time we came together in shock and disbelief. 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. David James Smith, who wrote a book about the Bulger case, The Sleep Of Reason, and stayed in touch with Ann Thompson afterwards. 'I couldn't be arsed talking about them,' said one. Self pity? Not that he had any need to borrow his dad's. "Contrary to what the papers will tell you, he is not a little urchin boy. Recently, I dug out my old notebooks of the trial and my handwriting during the verdicts says it all. Neither gave evidence to the court, but were found guilty after an officer told how Venables admitted the murder, saying, "We did it. His mother cared about him. 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. He would throw things at other children, cut himself deliberately with scissors and stick paper all over his face. Forensic and pathology evidence was a huge challenge for everyone, not least the jury who were shown pictures of James injuries. The breaking point came when Jon was suspended from Broad Square after attempting to choke a classmate with a twelve-inch wooden ruler. They did. The two bumped into each other - literally - in the school playground in the middle of a fight. Her family were dignified throughout, but on that day one of theBulgerfamily supporters allowed themselvesa loud 'YES' as the verdicts came in. More press conferences, terrible details beginning to emerge about the state James was found in, and the chilling prospect, soon confirmed, that indeed it was children who had done this. But I still kept him in if he was naughty or anything like that.'. Neil had been laid off in the months prior, so the couple sold their home, and Neil moved back in with his father, before finally relocating to an apartment in Kirkdale. One neighbour said she always let him into her home whenever his mother was out. 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. He denied having had any films that were not mainstream, or that were pornographic, in the house. In contrast he has had no contact with his father despite an approach soon after sentencing. I thought he was all right, Jon said of Robert during his police interviews. If I wanted to kill a baby, Id kill Id kill me own, wouldnt I?. It was when Jon turned seven that Susan and the children had relocated to Norris Green, one of Liverpools larger, more reputable areas. For me, though, it is Susan and Neil Venables who stay most in my memory of that day. What doing well means is anybodys guess. To do that he put on the witness stand all those people who had seen the three boys on the route from the shopping centre to the railway line. They played a double act towards the children: his mother, Susan, aged 36, a sharp woman with a hawkish look, was the hard one. Pictures; Inside the Guardian; Guardian Weekly . "Throughout the conduct of the case there have been a number of issues that have been swept under the carpet. 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. 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. You know, we just try and help him as best we can to try to come to terms with things. 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. ', 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.' A maudlin ballad about Liverpool was playing in the back- ground and she was cooking the dish known as Scouse. 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. The Americans fed 1 1/2 minutes of the Jamie Bulger story into a 22-minute bulletin of national and international news. Facebook gives people the power to share and makes the world more open and connected. Aged 10, he was barely literate. 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. A video still of James Bulger, aged 2 years old, being led away in the 'New Strand' shopping centre. She was living in secrecy but always felt that she was walking around with a huge sign: mother of Bulger killer, above her head. March 10, 2021 - 20:29 GMT Eve Crosbie. I have lost my son as well. Jon, who had the most trouble sleeping, appeared fearful of Susan, and was terrified, above all, of her condemnation. Natural Landmarks. On many occasions, Susan was observed physically and verbally assaulting Jon. I know how I feel as a mother. Teachers hold placards as they shout slogans while taking part in a protest organised in Manchester as part of a national strike day. On one occasion, he said, Robert ran off down the street laughing, "You can't catch me". At school Jon was considered bright enough, though he had trouble keeping up with lessons. The attitude when you live where we live is that you have to be tough or else you dont survive, she said. 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. Birds. The trial though didnt, and was never designed to, shed light on how two such young children could be guilty of such sustained barbarity. xf fy. 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. Susan Venables is on Facebook. In the first press conference she gave the day after her son was taken, this 25-year-old woman struck me as a girl, a desperate, grief stricken girl whose tired swollen eyes told their own story. 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. Channel 5 is set to air a new two-part documentary that tells the definitive story of . The end of the court case was not the end of course. I would get him something like a cartoon.". I feel so sorry for them. She also had to stay strong for the remaining children. Ironically, the relationship between mother and son improved when he, was behind bars. And there were rewards for breaking rules. this weekend for breaching the terms of his early release, the parents of both the Bulger killers continue to stand by them. ", Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies. And now The Bulger Killers: Was Justice Done? Lawyers for the pair argued that the adult court venue and publicity made it impossible for the schoolboys to be given a fair trial. At Preston Crown Court Thompsons mother Ann and Venables parents Neil and Sue sat side by side. The days James was abducted, February 12 1993, I was a young reporter in my home city of Liverpool. Every day the public gallery was packed with students, pensioners, mothers, teenagers, all drawn to the courtroom spectacle as to a TV soap. As the paedophile killer pleaded guilty on Wednesday to possessing more than 1,000 indecent images of children and a "paedo manual" - his parents words on their son's involvement make disturbing reading. What's the least amount of exercise we can get away with? Haunting CCTV footage shows the pair leading the tiny, trusting boy . Mr Venables said: "He wouldn't watch horror. Join Facebook to connect with Susan Venables and others you may know. "We are committed to driving sustainability in the leather industry, through the commitment of. That means he is currently 35-years-old. 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. The reaction prompted James' mum Denise Fergus to let supporters know she had nothing to do with the programme. Mrs Venables described how she searched for Jon. . Jon Venables is demonstrably no such thing. It set the tone for the years ahead in which there was to be no respite from the hatred. - a grey heron in Asawn, Southern Egypt. They said their son met Robert Thompson in September 1991, when Jon was transferred from another school. In March 2010, Venables was recalled to prison for downloading and distributing more than 100 images of child abuse. When she turned around moments later, her son was gone. I said no. He gets upset. Her husband came back to Walton now and again to see his mother, but he never came to see the boys. Mrs Thompson worked as an office cleaner until two years ago, when she got pregnant again by another man, who also left her. He has had security with loving parents and a loving brother and sister.". Toddler James Bulger disappeared on February 12 1993. Jon spent Sunday to Thursday with his mum and the rest of every week with his dad. In Jon's case, 'hyperactivity' went beyond mere fidgeting into outbursts of sudden anger and violence. Read about our approach to external linking. Jon was afraid of her. "All he said when we've said 'Why didn't you run away?' Robert Thompson and Jon Venables, both 10, murdered him in cold blood. "In order that justice can be done, no further details are being released at this stage and the proceedings are subject to reporting restrictions.". The sunrises through the sea mist over the sculpture The Couple by Sean Henry at Newbiggin-by-the-Sea on the Northumberland coast. There, he is terrorising a girl. Jon's parents, who sat in court for most of the trial, said they grieved for the Bulgers. 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. The most agonising thing about the whole case was that so many people had stopped them and questioned them. 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?". He said he was frightened of Robert's older brother. The fathers of both Robert and Jon were without work. As his killers began their sentences, such was the revulsion that it was already clear their families could not. rk ye. Click here to find personal data about Susan Venables including phone numbers, addresses, directorships, electoral roll information, related property prices and other useful information. Denise, James Bugler's mother, went with her brother's girlfriend Nicola to the Bootle Strand Shopping Centre and took James with her. Mrs Venables walked around the area for hours, searching for him. 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. 'They were just your average scruff - like the rest of us.'. The old wood panelled courtroom is small. Are they mad? The pattern of bullying among the brothers, which had been noted by the Head mistress of the boys school, appeared to descend down the line, with the eldest Thompson brother beating the one just below him in age, and that brother beating the brother below him, in turn. After a while he tried to commit suicide to get back in. It seems likely that he was bullied. I just think of James and his Dad and about all that fun with his little boy, like I had with Jon.". 'When the fisticuffs ended, they made friends.' We use your sign-up to provide content in the ways you've consented to and improve our understanding of you. . Most people would regard such sentiments as having come rather late in the day and certainly too late to save poor James. Please review our, You need to be a subscriber to join the conversation. Why would I want to kill him? he said, referring to the slain toddler. 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. The primary concern among the faculty was Roberts growing amount of absences. Shortly after the breakup, an accidental fire destroyed the Thompsons home, leaving Ann homeless, jobless, and with little money to support her kids. 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. He was fearful of the other boy. 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. A day later, when James still hadnt been found, it was clear from CCTV footage that he had been taken by children. That's the thing that upsets me because obviously, where I was standing poor little James must have been not far . release. The two had an aberrant relationship with one another, in the sense that it was almost as though they had never divorced. Susan opted to remove him from the school then, and some months later, she reenrolled him in St. Marys in Walton. James Bulger was weeks away from his third birthday, Jon Venables and Robert Thompson behaved very differently in court, Mother who killed her five children euthanised, AOC under investigation for Met Gala dress, The children left behind in Cuba's exodus, Alex Murdaugh jailed for life for double murder, US sues Exxon over nooses found at Louisiana plant, Zoom boss Greg Tomb fired without cause. Maybe it was that incident that put the idea into Jon or Robbie's head to 'get a little boy lost'. ANN THOMPSON, the mother of Robert Thompson, child A, says her son is a thief, a liar, is devious and plays truant. Between January and the day of the murder Robert had absconded 37 half days out of a possible 60 . 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. 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. DAVID James Smith, who visited Mrs Thompson at one of her secret homes, reveals that it was a sad existence. He has had more love and attention than a lot of children I know. fun to be with" and always had plenty of friends. 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. From the start, Jon was drawn and repulsed by Robbie like opposite and equal poles of a magnet. Ann was a heavy drinker, separated from her husband, also called Robert, who had deserted the family several years earlier and did not attend court. I didnt connect the dots until much later on. 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 details of Jamess death were sickening. He was also given 'respite care' - six weekly weekend breaks to relieve the family of the burden of looking after him. 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. Sorry, we are unable to accept comments about this article at the moment. 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. 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. He would often have to stay in class at break times to catch up. What happened to James Bulger? In the business world, too many people think it's all about being hard, tough, ambitious, or having grit. 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. 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. Their. She said an educational psychologist had diagnosed hyperactivity in her son, who was bullied at his previous school. Susan and the children moved in with her mother for a short time, and then settled in a small cluster of derelict apartments in Old Swan, where Jon attended the nearby Broad Green Preschool. At the trialnine months laterI would learn that Robert Thompson had been among those people. They and Ann Thompson, who has six other. 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I wish we could turn the clocks back," Mrs Venablessaid. But after a year they let Ian out again. 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). "Just to let you know that even though footage was used of me on the CH4 programme, I had no part in it," she tweeted. what is the bite force of a baboon. I suspect she still feels that., In 2001 there was a renewed uproar over the case when it emerged that the killers were to be freed, despite a. recommendation by the trial judge that they should remain behind bars for a very long time. This would have been at about 5.30pm - just the time the boys were about to begin killing Jamie. On the walls hung oil paintings of local judges and magistrates, their surfaces crinkled with age. "He tends to be a bit hyperactive so his concentration did go a bit, but apart from that he is quite bright, no worries.". Jobs were few and far between. Those who knew him well said he was a very emotional child, prone to mood swings. The case is doomed to be picked over by every faction within the caring professionals and politics. The documentary on the James Bulger murder case sparked anger after viewers criticised the Channel 4 show for "sympathising" with the toddler's killers. 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. They had much in common. He has had his holidays like everyone else. Venables and Thompson were seen on CCTV calmly leading the toddler out of the shopping centre by his hand. If it suited his moodwhich it frequently didBobby would beat the boys, curse at them, and threaten to send them to a home for children who misbehaved. The other boy, Robert Thompson, we are told is now abiding by the conditions of his life license since he was released 17 years ago, and is doing well. It is just heartbreaking.". I came back and then (Mrs Venables) went out. This time, curiosity took the upper hand: 'I wanted to see what it was like,' he said. Find out more, The latest offers and discount codes from popular brands on Telegraph Voucher Codes, As James Bulger killer Jon Venables is sent back to prison, Shelagh Fogarty writes about her experiences as a young reporter on the case at the time, James Bulger, aged 2 years old, being led away in the New Strand shopping centre in the Bootle area of Liverpool, Denise Bulger arrives at Preston Crown Couty on November 24 1993, Shelagh Fogarty was a young reporter at the time of the murder, The police van carrying Venables and Thompson arrives at Preston Crown Court, Sarah Ferguson exclusive: Meghan has made Harry very happy, 32 best gifts for her: top present ideas to buy for mother's day in 2023, Midlife women are being told to sit down and shut up and not just by men, Imogen Stubbs: Its become less and less acceptable to age, Cost of HRT set to be slashed in new prescription scheme, Magic Mike and the naked truth about male strippers, Inside the James Bulger files 25 years on. Put bluntly, Jon Venables still gets a kick out of seeing small children suffer. Constantly fighting and battering one another, and possibly, too, being hit by their emotionally drained mother, the Thompson brothers often looked scruffy, and, on more than one occasion, were seen bearing bruises and bite marks. Something went wrong, please try again later. But viewers were shocked when experts "defended" the 10-year-old murderers saying they made "an awful mistake". Not their punishmentand exclusion from society for the rest of their childhood. Naturaleza. Weeping, she said: 'I wasn't actually on the railway track because there is a fence, but I went up the side. It is claimed that taxpayers could have to fork out another 250,000 to provide a new life when he is eventually released. "I think my son's concentration wasn't the way it should have been, but he wasn't slow. In court, he hid his face again. She said that Jon was always "loving, caring, thoughtful and considerate .

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