Sometimes Robert would sag off on his own, but it was more fun with a friend. They would sneak out during the morning break, hiding behind a wall before the coast was clear. One woman asked how James had injured his forehead. 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. How could two small boys savage and leave a toddler for dead? "My heart really goes out to them. Only two people can answer the question, and even their ability is doubtful. Recently, I dug out my old notebooks of the trial and my handwriting during the verdicts says it all. School had no hold on him - there was no corporal punishment or other form of penalty that touched him. Jon's parents, who sat in court for most of the trial, said they grieved for the Bulgers. 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. Wiping away tears, he went on: 'I feel for that family. re bz. Susan Venables's bent body shrank deeper into itself. He did like to be liked, and loved to have friends, and he has got involved with the wrong person.". While both boys may have felt helpless and inferior in their own settings, together they were fearless, a portrait of machismo, each playing on the others strong points. '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. Venables was caught with 1,170 indecent photos of children on his laptop, the Old Bailey was told. He is an old-fashioned crime and punishment man. I have cried for JamesBulgermany times, so God only knows the tears his parents and family have shed. Maybe it was that incident that put the idea into Jon or Robbie's head to 'get a little boy lost'. Jon breaks into hysteria whenever the subject is mentioned. Robert was number five of seven. On the days he was at school he had a knack for stirring things up. I would say he was provoked. so they were put in a lower year. They looked, moved, fidgeted, scratched, cried - even sucked their thumbs - just like any 11-year-olds. He's a good reader if he's interested in it. Scores more watched proceedings from a neighbouring office block which, for the duration of the trial, came under court jurisdiction. Once Robert shared with him a tin of Roses chocolates which he had poured surreptitiously into his coat pocket. 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. A day later, when James still hadnt been found, it was clear from CCTV footage that he had been taken by children. Sandra Gotheridge. 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'. Not really?. 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. sons, were settled in council houses within easy reach of the institutions where their sons were being held. 'I couldn't be arsed talking about them,' said one. 'You'd better tell the truth. So he came home. Jon was also mad on computers. Forensic and pathology evidence was a huge challenge for everyone, not least the jury who were shown pictures of James' injuries. I wish we could turn the clocks back," Mrs Venablessaid. The couple, who are living together again after a partial separation, said their feelings towards Jon had not changed despite the terrible crime. One investigating police officer said: 'You could look into the eyes of Robert and knew you were looking at evil.' The week after he walked out the family's home burned down in an accidental fire. 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. 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. The only sign he was discomforted by hearing it was a near constant pulling of his tongue in his hands. James Bulger would now be weeks away from his 23rd birthday. "You look at him and you say to yourself, 'How could you be involved in anything like this?'" Whatever problems she had in her own life, she was always there. 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. His mates called him a girl because whenever there was something on his mind he sucked his thumb. Once they went into a home decoration shop and hid under a pile of carpets. 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'.". He frequented local cinemas and regularly hired videos for the night. Usually, they were slung out. The haunting words of Jon Venables' parents only interview have resurfaced, twenty five years after he killed tot Jamie Bulger. 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. Facebook gives people the power. - a grey heron in Asawn, Southern Egypt. He liked to spend the weekend on the streets. At Preston Crown Court Thompsons mother Ann and Venables parents Neil and Sue sat side by side. He was too scared to be naughty on his own. In some families this was the third generation to be unemployed. Venables and Thompson abducted, tortured and killed two-year-old James in Liverpool in 1993 when they were both aged just 10. Can Nigeria's election result be overturned? Channel 5 is set to air a new two-part documentary that tells the definitive story of . . 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. He had an elder brother, aged 13, and a nine-year-old sister. 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They sat just feet from me, perched on the edge of their wooden seat, smartly dressed and hunched in shame just below their son, Jon. 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. What doing well means is anybodys guess. More often, he would pinch them from local shops. When you have got people in the area threatening to blow your kneecaps off every moment of the daythats just the way they are. Keep them apart or he'll get into trouble, they said. 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. fun to be with" and always had plenty of friends. 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. 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. Teachers hold placards as they shout slogans while taking part in a protest organised in Manchester as part of a national strike day. Depressed, Ann began drinking heavily and was taking narcotics which caused her to hallucinate. Denise Bulger believes her son's murderers - men now - should be in prison for ever. But apart from his brother, Robert struggled to build friendships. fn ye vw la. Jon's first year after he was moved was relatively successful. Thompson got better opportunities there than if hed been walking the streets in Walton, says the author. si fs. Mrs Venables walked around the area for hours, searching for him. Toddler James Bulger disappeared on February 12 1993. One day they stayed out until 10.30pm and Jon received a severe reprimand from his mother. Both had parents who had separated. 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.. Southern. He said he was frightened of Robert's older brother. NEIL Venables was warned by friends not to let his son play with the other boy. 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. 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. I cant believe people find excuses for these murderers. We still think the same of him as we always have. Jon, who had the most trouble sleeping, appeared fearful of Susan, and was terrified, above all, of her condemnation. Jon's parents, who sat in court for most of the trial, said they grieved for the Bulgers. Many of us had dined together most nights throughout the trial, mulling it all over but distracting ourselves, too. 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. 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. He would steal objects that he neither needed nor wanted, then chuck them away in the street. 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. That's the thing that upsets me because obviously where I was standing poor little James must have been not. He carried books on wrestling and wildlife in his school bag. I just burst into tears because you just knew what that meanther heart was broken. Some of the red brick houses were well-kept, others had torn net curtains and grubby windows. The teacher had a different perspective, saying that Susan was in fact aware of the issue, and had expressed deep concern. Look at mine. Shed never been back but she clearly missed Liverpool and had tried to recreate the city in her new home, he recalls. "What he's done is wrong so he needs to be punished. . Hyperactive children can't sit still all day,' Mrs Venables said. Now we waited. 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. Jon was afraid of her. Walton Village Financial Services would lend you pounds 300 for Christmas and demand a total of pounds 460 in repayment. This means that we may include adverts from us and third parties based on our knowledge of you. We still think the same of him as we always have. 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. They knew what they were doing," another wrote. 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. this weekend for breaching the terms of his early release, the parents of both the Bulger killers continue to stand by them. 'Just mad. Neighbors later reported that it wasnt uncommon for Robert to be seen wandering the streets of Walton after midnight, since he was always running off at night. 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. We still dont know why. But I still kept him in if he was naughty or anything like that.'. ', They sagged off in the afternoon and walked around the shops in County Road, near Walton. qu fy. Susan opted to remove him from the school then, and some months later, she reenrolled him in St. Marys in Walton. Money was always a struggle, and she got through the first years drinking in Higson's Top House off St Mary's Lane. 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. . But he is not a murderer. Both parents hope was that he would make something of his life and eventually find some peace. 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. The four who drove Suzanne to Romiley - Jean Powell (now Jean Gillespie), Bernadette McNeilly, Glyn Powell, and Anthony Dudson - were all found guilty of murder. UK news in pictures 15 February 2023. 'America is the land of shopping malls. "In order that justice can be done, no further details are being released at this stage and the proceedings are subject to reporting restrictions.". This would have been at about 5.30pm - just the time the boys were about to begin killing Jamie. 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. As a new documentary is set to air on ITV, the haunting words of Jon Venables' parents have resurfaced. At Radio City in Liverpool the calls were coming through from Australia, New Zealand and Canada. That was in September 1991, 17 months before they killed James Bulger. Both boys had been held back a year, and they were put in the same class. 'I sat away from him - he caused trouble,' Jon said. Venables received a 40-month prison sentence after appearing via video link at the Old Bailey. The street in which Robert lived was not untypical: a row of terraced bay windowed houses that stretched from the railway line back towards the city. The Rt Reverend Glyn Webster lights a candle in front of the newly restored Lady Chapel East Window at All Saints North Street in York, one of thirteen stained glass windows from the church undergoing conservation work at Barley Studio, Royal College of Nursing (RCN) general secretary Pat Cullen on the picket line outside Great Ormond Street Hospital in London during a strike by nurses and ambulance staff, Britains former prime minister Liz Truss leaves her home on February 5, 2023 in London, England. The questioning was calm, steady, even playful at the beginning to try to get a sense the two boys really did know the difference between right and wrong. 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. He was jailed for two years before being granted parole again in July 2013.. After spending just eight years in custody, Britain's youngest killers were released and given lifetime anonymity in the UK. There was a pattern of bullying, with the older boys picking on their younger brothers down the line. But his progress took a nose dive in September 1991 when he was transferred into another class. I came back and then (Mrs Venables) went out. gk. 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. 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. Liked by susan venables. Dudson was given a minimum term of 18 years. Ann Thompson and Susan and Neil Venables didn't need to imagine. S. Susan 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'. Put bluntly, Jon Venables still gets a kick out of seeing small children suffer. Another added: "An awful mistake??!! 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. 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?". We have found 88 people in the UK with the name Susan Venables. He would throw things at other children, cut himself deliberately with scissors and stick paper all over his face. Please review our, You need to be a subscriber to join the conversation. '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. We are proud to endorse the COP27 Leather Manifesto. When she turned around moments later, her son was gone. Mrs Venables described how she searched for Jon. 'I think about little James and what he must have gone through, how they must feel. Who were their parents? Her husband came back to Walton now and again to see his mother, but he never came to see the boys. His mother cared about him. Forensic and pathology evidence was a huge challenge for everyone, not least the jury who were shown pictures of James injuries. In March 2010, Venables was recalled to prison for downloading and distributing more than 100 images of child abuse. He was fearful of the other boy. 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. Her warnings arent being heeded, but 25 years on, I think she is probably right. Once he stole decorating borders from a DIY shop which he discarded at regular intervals to mark his way home. Few had the patience to be friends with him, only his younger brother and a couple of lads who lived nearby. They and Ann Thompson, who has six other. Robert's mother agreed with her son's assessment: 'Name one family in the area who would have a good word for us.'. Robert had eaten too many and felt sick. Mrs Thompson claimed she had been the victim of revenge attacks after her identity became known. 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 shock in the city was plain to see, but it wasn't just in Liverpool that people stared at the CCTV pictures of the boy holding James' hand, while another led the way to the exit of the shopping centre where a frantic Denise Bulger would have been desperately looking for her child. Robert said 'If you tell anybody I'll get my big brother to batter you up'. One police officer described how Jon Venables was so small, his legs were swinging. 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. and things like that is that he was frightened. His body, defiled and broken in two by a train, two miles from where hed been taken, was foundtwo days later. Those who knew him well said he was a very emotional child, prone to mood swings. We feel so sorry for him because he must be going through so much torment. They said their son met Robert Thompson in September 1991, when Jon was transferred from another school. He disliked Thunderbirds because of the puppets' 'stringy thingies'. 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. Her family were dignified throughout, but on that day one of theBulgerfamily supporters allowed themselvesa loud 'YES' as the verdicts came in. Regrettably, yet perhaps not entirely unforeseen, the cycle of abuse continued. . He wore his dark hair short, almost a crew cut, which accentuated his ample forehead and blunt nose. 'I thought he was all right,' said Boy B, as he was known in court - Jon Venables. "All he said when we've said 'Why didn't you run away?' 'In this state it is quite painful to see a normal relationship between mother and child. Home of the Daily and Sunday Express. Robert Thompson was born to Robert Sr. and Ann Thompson on the 23rd day of August 1982, in Liverpool, England. How can people defend their actions .#TheBulgerKillers.". 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 was fearful, he was weak and he was provoked. Shortly after the breakup, an accidental fire destroyed the Thompsons home, leaving Ann homeless, jobless, and with little money to support her kids. Pictures; Inside the Guardian; Guardian Weekly . The reaction prompted James' mum Denise Fergus to let supporters know she had nothing to do with the programme. his mother was told that it was important that she stayed in his life and stood by him. But that is the common lot of thousands of 10-year-olds who have not turned into murderers. Sorry, we are unable to accept comments about this article at the moment. 'It's always our family that gets the blame,' Robert said to police after he was arrested for James's murder. Nature. "It was very dark and I shouted down, shouted his name. What upsets me is I've no way of bringing him up for the rest of his young years so he's going to lose all his childhood. Hope. At the end of the street a mesh wire frame coverered the window of the money lenders. He denied having had any films that were not mainstream, or that were pornographic, in the house. It has already been reported that Jon Venables real identity has been exposed in prison, where he is said to be receiving 24-hour protection. Express. He is one of those children that if you told him to put his hand in the fire, he would. There was almost total silence there apart from the sound of shoes on the ground. 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. . Venables on the other hand was becoming increasingly agitated in the police interviews. 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. 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. But he liked collecting trolls, little doll-like creatures with ugly faces and spiky fluorescent hair. It is about a Good Guy doll invaded by the spirit of a mass murderer who kills people in gruesome ways. "BULL**** about 'two frightened kids whod made a terrible mistake' The tapes said they kept stoning him, even when he kept getting up. He was in great distress' And what about the little, innocent boy he killed??! A smell of bleach lingered on some of the tiled steps that led up to the front doors. gl. 'The attitude when you live where we live is that you have to be tough or else you don't survive,' she said. "I think my son's concentration wasn't the way it should have been, but he wasn't slow. CCTV images revealed how James had been lured away by Thompson and Venables, who was also aged 10. If I wanted to kill a baby, Id kill Id kill me own, wouldnt I?. But viewers were shocked when experts "defended" the 10-year-old murderers saying they made "an awful mistake". Ann Thompson and Susan and Neil Venables didn't need to imagine. Everton was his team. "I don't think we went wrong as parents at all. Why would I want to kill him? he said, referring to the slain toddler. 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. They were drawn to one another quickly. Yet, even while Susan admitted to being under huge emotional strain on a daily basis, the couple later denied that her constant hysterics would have encroached on Jon in any way, considering he was still in infancy at the time. The case is doomed to be picked over by every faction within the caring professionals and politics. He didn't want to hurt James. I wish we could turn the clocks back,' Mrs Venables, 36, said. Both were banned from ever returning to Liverpool and given new identities at a reported cost of 1.5million. 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. Mrs Venables said: "He mentions James, not all the time. Just as Venables's confession convicted him, a shoe print belonging to Robert Thompson, found on James cheekbone, confirmed his guilt, too. James' mother Denise believes they should have remained in jail for life and has tirelessly campaigned against their rights to anonymity. Not their punishmentand exclusion from society for the rest of their childhood. Facebook gives people the power to share and makes the world more open and connected. Twenty-five years on, Im still prone to hot tears at the memory of it all and I do question the trial. The two had an aberrant relationship with one another, in the sense that it was almost as though they had never divorced. Friday 12th February 1993. It was high- lighted by the trial judge Mr Justice Morland who said they must take moral responsibility for the terrible actions of the young killers. 'In my opinion he was victimised. Still, despite being clearly intimidated by him, Roberts brother appeared to share a strangely intimate bond with him. He was jailed for two years before being granted parole again in July 2013. '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.'.