The trial though didnt, and was never designed to, shed light on how two such young children could be guilty of such sustained barbarity. Usually, they were slung out. "He is easily led. A sudden pause in the tapes and one of the officers appeared in person to describe how he asked Neil and Susan Venables to leave the room because he thought Jon wanted to tell him something. 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. In the autumn term of 1992, Robert played truant for 49 half days and Jon for 40. Truanting, or 'sagging off', had become a way of life for Robert. Robert is not believed to have reoffended - Venables has been convicted twice since being set free. Once Robert shared with him a tin of Roses chocolates which he had poured surreptitiously into his coat pocket. 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. Robert had asked once before but Jon, who had rarely truanted in his previous school, was scared and said no. Both parents hope was that he would make something of his life and eventually find some peace. One day they stayed out until 10.30pm and Jon received a severe reprimand from his mother. He was pale in complexion and had watery brown, listless eyes. "I think about little James and what he must have gone through, how they must feel. 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. 'Just mad. For weeks, she stayed in bed, not bothering to tend to the children, and when she finally did reemerge, she readily admitted she drank from morning to night, but had stopped taking the pills. Grainy CCTV footage shows them walking James away from the Strand . Neil Venables regarded himself as the Barry Norman of Merseyside - a film buff with a penchant for horror. But viewers were shocked when experts "defended" the 10-year-old murderers saying they made "an awful mistake". 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. He's quite bright and clever. 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. Hes your son., Unhappily, it was during this critical time that Ann became pregnant with her seventh child, the product of another failed relationship. "It is hard to take in really. 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. He also liked to scare old ladies by jumping out in front of their noses. The old wood panelled courtroom is small. ', 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. One police officer described how Jon Venables was so small, his legs were swinging. Once the jury retired, so did the journalists - but we didnt go far. Murder of James Bulger. Both had a need to attract attention, which they achieved through a host of petty rebellions. Most people would regard such sentiments as having come rather late in the day and certainly too late to save poor James. 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. Born on August 13th, 1982, Jon was the middle child of Neil and Susan Venables. But now and again. Just four years earlier, we had all covered the Hillsborough disaster and come together in grief. He would throw things at other children, cut himself deliberately with scissors and stick paper all over his face. The Venables decided to place her with their eldest son, in a school for children with special needs. They knew what they were doing," another wrote. The documentary on the James Bulger murder case sparked anger after viewers criticised the Channel 4 show for "sympathising" with the toddler's killers. He is an old-fashioned crime and punishment man. The two bumped into each other - literally - in the school playground in the middle of a fight. It is about a Good Guy doll invaded by the spirit of a mass murderer who kills people in gruesome ways. 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. Big Bobby, like Anns father, was a violent alcoholic, who was easily crossed. His mother especially has been a tower of strength, says the source. His response couldn't have been more different as he sank into the oversized blazer he was wearing. Depressed, Ann began drinking heavily and was taking narcotics which caused her to hallucinate. sons, were settled in council houses within easy reach of the institutions where their sons were being held. everyone blamed Thompson and. They looked, moved, fidgeted, scratched, cried - even sucked their thumbs - just like any 11-year-olds. football, snooker, things like that. The attitude when you live where we live is that you have to be tough or else you dont survive, she said. The police have uncovered no evidence of any abuse within either family. The left will make play of social deprivation, unemployment, bad housing and general inner-city rot. He's a good reader if he's interested in it. 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. I have cried for JamesBulgermany times, so God only knows the tears his parents and family have shed. On many occasions, Susan was observed physically and verbally assaulting Jon. He gets upset. she said. 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. Two boys who forged a friendship out of breaking the rules. The family was put up in a hostel temporarily and later relocated by the social services. Robert's mother agreed with her son's assessment: 'Name one family in the area who would have a good word for us.'. what is the bite force of a baboon. I made notes of the pathologists evidence. Facebook gives people the power. He had an elder brother, aged 13, and a nine-year-old sister. 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. 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. 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. the street. 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. The Crown Prosecution Service released a statement in January confirming Venables had been charged. "All he said when we've said 'Why didn't you run away?' The details of Jamess death were sickening. According to the teacher, Jon would rock back and forth in his desk, making strange noises (this behavior was later speculated to be Jons jealous attempt to emulate his elder brother, in order to receive the same special attention), bang his head on the desk or walls repeatedly, glue bits of paper all over his face, wedge himself in between desks, throw himself on the ground, throw chairs across the corridor, rip projects off the classroom walls, cut holes in his socks, and intentionally cut himself with scissors. "It was very dark and I shouted down, shouted his name. On one occasion, he said, Robert ran off down the street laughing, "You can't catch me". There is, like, a little paint factory. so they were put in a lower year. S. Susan venables. si fs. ', 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.' 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. When a police officer asked him why he didn't rescue James bleeding on the railway lines he replied: ' 'Cos blood stains, doesn't it, and then me mother would have to pay more money. "I don't think we went wrong as parents at all. ql zo. Fiction Writing. 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. He had left her to bring up six children alone. But I still kept him in if he was naughty or anything like that.'. Ann and Bobby fought regularly in front of the children, with virtually all of the fights leading to physical violence. 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. I feel so sorry for them. He denied having had any films that were not mainstream, or that were pornographic, in the house. I know how I feel as a mother. 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. When Jon left home on the morning of Friday, February 12 he was happy because it was the last day of school before a week's holiday and he was going to take some pet gerbils home. The abduction and brutal murder of this two-year-old by Robert Thompson and Jon Venables, who were just 10 at the time, prompted a conversation in Britain that we are still having today. You know, we just try and help him as best we can to try to come to terms with things. 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. The case is doomed to be picked over by every faction within the caring professionals and politics. Venables and Thompson abducted, tortured and killed two-year-old James in Liverpool in 1993 when they were both aged just 10. They were drawn to one another quickly. Nicola had to exchange some clothes at TJ Hughes, Denise waited nearby, watching the children. 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. 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. Less thanfive hours laterthe verdicts were in. He began telling his father that he believed his parents loved his brother and sister more than they did him, and, at one point, implored his father to send him to school with his siblings. The only sign he was discomforted by hearing it was a near constant pulling of his tongue in his hands. Englands Ollie Chessum dives in to score his sides second try during the Guinness Six Nations match at Twickenham Stadium, London, Sam Smith arrives for the Brit Awards ceremony, A robin redbreast takes flight in Dublins botanic gardens. He was fearful, he was weak and he was provoked," she said. 'It's always our family that gets the blame,' Robert said to police after he was arrested for James's murder. Regrettably, yet perhaps not entirely unforeseen, the cycle of abuse continued. The Swedes, French, Germans, Canadian and Americans had all come to gaze at Liverpool's child killers. . He is far from it. THE first time the boys set eyes on each other after they were arrested was in Preston crown court 3 1/2 weeks ago. gl. But his outbursts of anger grew worse and he was suspended for trying to throttle a boy with a ruler. He was jailed for two years before being granted parole again in July 2013.. When she turned around moments later, her son was gone. cl gz. His mates called him a girl because whenever there was something on his mind he sucked his thumb. Their kids have got everything. He is broken- hearted over it. The parents of James Bulgers killers have also come to learn that the consequences of that terrible day will stay with them for ever too. His grip was so strong that it took two people to pry Jon off of the boy. 'I didn't know it would be like this,' Mr Venables said with hindsight. Susan Venables Facebook: susan.venables.9 Lives in Mellor, Blackburn With Darwen, . Many of us had dined together most nights throughout the trial, mulling it all over but distracting ourselves, too. Teachers later reported that whereas the boys were manageable when separated, together their behavior worsened dramatically. I have lost my son as well. She would arrive at the secure unit with food parcels and is said to be proud of his achievements since the crime. As a grim portrait of abuse, drunkenness and neglect emerged, the hatred and loathing for Robert Thompson and Jon Venables was also turned on their parents. For me, though, it is Susan and Neil Venables who stay most in my memory of that day. The reaction prompted James' mum Denise Fergus to let supporters know she had nothing to do with the programme. The mayor of Preston accused them of being sick ghouls, but still they came, queuing up for tickets two hours before proceedings began. I'm warning yer,' she would say. He said he was frightened of Robert's older brother. View the profiles of people named Susan Venables. It is not known whether the boy watched any of his father's adult movies. xf fy. A day later, when James still hadnt been found, it was clear from CCTV footage that he had been taken by children. Reporters from around the world ended up in the drab streets of Walton, cadging interviews off any 10-year-old boys hanging around in the streets. There, he is terrorising a girl. 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. Forlorn hope, though. The right will draw attention to the broken homes, the single parents, the persistent truancy. Thompson was inscrutable in the dock as we heard his voice for the first time. Aged 10, he was barely literate. But after a year they let Ian out again. On the days he was at school he had a knack for stirring things up. Other parents came in to complain about attention seeking. 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. But apart from his brother, Robert struggled to build friendships. Neil explained to him that the school they attended was special, and that Jon wouldnt be accepted. Last week the author Angela Phillips spoke of how the gentle son of the female friend of hers turned into a fascist skinhead: 'The boy his mother wanted him to become was not man enough for the world he was forced to inhabit. The most agonising thing about the whole case was that so many people had stopped them and questioned them. 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. Susan was known as the town " whore". 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. 'The attitude when you live where we live is that you have to be tough or else you don't survive,' she said. 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. 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. 2023 BBC. Weeping, she said: 'I wasn't actually on the railway track because there is a fence, but I went up the side. He has had security with loving parents and a loving brother and sister.". He has been educated. 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 other shops in the area were also armoured with mesh, including the Red Garden chipper where Robert used to pop in with his brothers most nights for a 25p bag of chips. Susan Venables's bent body shrank deeper into itself. I used to get them for myself at night time. His body was found two days later on a railway line. He has had Christmas presents. Or by navigating to the user icon in the top right. In quest of companionship, he occasionally bullied his younger brother into truanting with him, and, in an effort to impress his peers, frequently boasted of his late-night exploits on the railway line, but failed to attract much attention. He was fearful of the other boy. Liked by susan 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. The days James was abducted, February 12 1993, I was a young reporter in my home city of Liverpool. The two had an aberrant relationship with one another, in the sense that it was almost as though they had never divorced. It is here, of course, that Jon met and made friends with fellow eccentric, Robert Thompson. Instead, she was involved in an ITV documentary with Sir Trevor McDonald that will air on Thursday. A maudlin ballad about Liverpool was playing in the back- ground and she was cooking the dish known as Scouse. Following the arrest of their sons it was reported that the mothers of the boys had been attacked and vilified in. Only two people can answer the question, and even their ability is doubtful. Then, one Friday in February, they discovered a new rule to break: they murdered a two-year-old. Some people thought they were as old as 12 or 13, but when they met they were both only 10 years old. Mrs Venables said: "He mentions James, not all the time. 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. Both of them struggled at school and had been lumped into the year below their age. They have never come out of hiding. The James Bulger murder View gallery Venables was born on August 12, 1982. Susan Venables has blamed weakness for her sons role in the killing of James Bulger, claiming that he got involved with the wrong person. Money was always a struggle, and she got through the first years drinking in Higson's Top House off St Mary's Lane. When you have got people in the area threatening to blow your kneecaps off every moment of the daythats just the way they are. 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. He was fearful of the other boy. They played truant, they pinched sweets, they terrorised old ladies. "Youngsters are usually tried in a youth court, [Thompson and Venables] were tried in an adult court. What's the least amount of exercise we can get away with? 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. Scores more watched proceedings from a neighbouring office block which, for the duration of the trial, came under court jurisdiction. 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. Put bluntly, Jon Venables still gets a kick out of seeing small children suffer. Venables served seven years of a life sentence for the 1993 murder before he was freed in June 2001, aged 18. 'Provided you have no court orders for debts already,' the man on the phone would add helpfully. He is one of those children that if you told him to put his hand in the fire, he would. 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. 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. It was the kind of family neighbours compare themselves against and then feel better. James' mother Denise believes they should have remained in jail for life and has tirelessly campaigned against their rights to anonymity. So much happened whilst I was there involving Jon. 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. They were sent home to their mother at one point, but after attempting suicide with overdoses, were placed back into care. View the profiles of people named Susan Venables. and things like that is that he was frightened. . Another time they were saucy and asked a sales girl if she stocked 'fishy nickers'. To be absolutely accurate, she had only one illusion. 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. He always had plenty of friends. kl. What happened to James Bulger? Ann denied the physical abuse, but later admitted to being cruel to the boys at times. The pair was tried for the abduction and murder of James as adults owing to the fact they were over 10, which is legally deemed to be the age of criminal responsibility. I don't think they understood he was hyperactive. . Like Ann Thompson, however, both parents of Jon Venables rallied round their son and in preparationfor his release Mr Venables accom-panied him on trips to football matches. His father, thin and balding, had a much gentler edge. More often, he would pinch them from local shops. She claimed, however, that she was completely unaware of Jons erratic behaviors at school, had never seen any evidence to support them (such as cuts on his arms or holes in his socks), and dismissed the possibility that many of the occurrences cited by the teacher had ever taken place. The first time he asked Jon to play truant with him was last September, only weeks after they had become friends. 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. His mother gave him pocket money to buy them. Extraordinarily, she even shouted up to the railway tracks at Walton where she knew Robert had a den. She initially enrolled the two younger children in Broad Square Elementary, but it soon became clear that her daughter was struggling to keep up with the schools curriculum. Grey Heron. Ann tried to discourage this by hiding his shoes, or by taking him down to the Walton Lane police station and having the officer on duty frighten him into compliance, but to no avail. When he played truant he was scared she would come and find him. She found it hard bringing the kids up in the neighbourhood. She also had to stay strong for the remaining children. Ironically, the relationship between mother and son improved when he, was behind bars. He had been stripped from the waist down,. Susan Venables agreed but on condition that she saw her son first. DAVID James Smith, who visited Mrs Thompson at one of her secret homes, reveals that it was a sad existence. Yes, these things are important, but trust. Shame? We still dont know why. Meanwhile, A petition demanding a public inquiry into James Bulger's murder case has got nearly 15,000 signatures in one day. The teacher had a different perspective, saying that Susan was in fact aware of the issue, and had expressed deep concern. His mother was not so keen on the idea - they cost pounds 35 each. I know how I feel as a mother. The sunrises through the sea mist over the sculpture The Couple by Sean Henry at Newbiggin-by-the-Sea on the Northumberland coast.

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