'Provided you have no court orders for debts already,' the man on the phone would add helpfully. A video still of James Bulger, aged 2 years old, being led away in the 'New Strand' shopping centre. I do believe that she feels guilty deep down for her own part in what happened., Despite the risks of discovery, the relationship is said to have contin- ued to thrive following Thompsons. The best instincts led hundreds, including me, to lay flowers a few days later at the site of James horrific end. Lawyers for the pair argued that the adult court venue and publicity made it impossible for the schoolboys to be given a fair trial. "I don't think we went wrong as parents at all. I cant believe people find excuses for these murderers. There is, like, a little paint factory. This time, curiosity took the upper hand: 'I wanted to see what it was like,' he said. 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 was their sons picked up by detectives. 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. 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. View the profiles of people named Susan Venables. I didnt connect the dots until much later on. Once he stole decorating borders from a DIY shop which he discarded at regular intervals to mark his way home. . He was repulsed because he found Robert's disdain for authority scary. She was paranoid about being discovered. After a while the 10-year-olds began to charge - a tenner an interview. His mother cared about him. [3] [4] Thompson and Venables led Bulger away . Denise Fergus is the same age as me, a fact I only registered when I met her for the first time two weeks ago. It was when Jon turned seven that Susan and the children had relocated to Norris Green, one of Liverpools larger, more reputable areas. The right will draw attention to the broken homes, the single parents, the persistent truancy. 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. 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. Lock him in it.'. Im bringing them up on my own, but if I went round and screwed every warehouse, my kids would have everything, too. Even so, while Roberts community was rough, his home life was perhaps worse, and could hardly be considered a refuge for the boy. He frequented local cinemas and regularly hired videos for the night. Jon's parents, who sat in court for most of the trial, said they grieved for the Bulgers. He was also given 'respite care' - six weekly weekend breaks to relieve the family of the burden of looking after him. However, you will find some great articles which you can comment on right now in our Comment section. 'You'd better tell the truth. Ann Thompson and Susan and Neil Venables didn't need to imagine. cl gz. 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They played truant, they pinched sweets, they terrorised old ladies. TWO BOYS. 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. When he played truant he was scared she would come and find him. He used to be bullied by other children for being so behind, and would return home at night visibly upset. Following the arrest of their sons it was reported that the mothers of the boys had been attacked and vilified in. 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. 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. Jon's first year after he was moved was relatively successful. Jon had to be pulled off the boy, who had gone red in the face, by a teacher who described the incident as the worst case of school violence she had witnessed. Jon was also mad on computers. He is one of those children that if you told him to put his hand in the fire, he would. His response couldn't have been more different as he sank into the oversized blazer he was wearing. 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. 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. But his outbursts of anger grew worse and he was suspended for trying to throttle a boy with a ruler. Behind them eyes bore into them - from everyone on all sides, journalists, their parents, members of the public, and of course, theBulgerfamily. 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 deal with drugs, they deal with everything. It is time to examine all this.". Verdict day came. He's quite bright and clever. Teachers later reported that whereas the boys were manageable when separated, together their behavior worsened dramatically. Scores more watched proceedings from a neighbouring office block which, for the duration of the trial, came under court jurisdiction. We still dont know why. He carried books on wrestling and wildlife in his school bag. At Preston Crown Court Thompsons mother Ann and Venables parents Neil and Sue sat side by side. Hyperactive children can't sit still all day,' Mrs Venables said. As his killers began their sentences, such was the revulsion that it was already clear their families could not. 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. But apart from his brother, Robert struggled to build friendships. I remember watching her then on TV, her sobbing plea for information and thinking how much guts it must have taken to get up that day and face a roomful of journalists and photographers. The most startling moment of the trial came when, in lieu of giving evidence in person, the boys' taped interviews with police - recorded just after their arrest - were played in court. That seems the very least they could face for what they did. I would say he was provoked. Express. 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?". "Throughout the conduct of the case there have been a number of issues that have been swept under the carpet. "The age of criminal responsibility in this country is 10 that's too low. 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. Will you tell his mum I'm sorry?". Ian was clever enough to know that to survive he had to get out. On the walls hung oil paintings of local judges and magistrates, their surfaces crinkled with age. In a 1993 interview, published in the Guardian newspaper just one day after Robert was convicted of the murder of James Bulger, Ann Thompson was quick to place fault on the neighborhood and the surrounding authorities, who she felt had failed both her and her sons. It is not known whether the boy watched any of his father's adult movies. Grainy CCTV footage shows them walking James away from the Strand . "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. 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. On countless occasions, Bobby battered his wife, once causing her to miscarry, and his temper didnt stop at his wife. 'I think about little James and what he must have gone through, how they must feel. 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. In March 2010, Venables was recalled to prison for downloading and distributing more than 100 images of child abuse. 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. Many of us had dined together most nights throughout the trial, mulling it all over but distracting ourselves, too. What they did was exceptionally unpleasant and the fact that a little boy ended up dead is not something the nation can easily forget. 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He was fearful of the other boy. Moments later, we were told, Jon Venables uttered the words, We did it. Robert said 'If you tell anybody I'll get my big brother to batter you up'. this weekend for breaching the terms of his early release, the parents of both the Bulger killers continue to stand by them. Natural Landmarks. Robert was number five of seven. This happened, more often than not, at night, when they refused to go to bed when told. James Bulger would now be weeks away from his 23rd birthday. 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. ', A psychoanalyst and child psychotherapist comes up with yet another possible explanation. 'He always seemed perfectly well behaved and I think he looked on me as some kind of grandma. Mrs Venables said: "He mentions James, not all the time. Are they mad? The police have uncovered no evidence of any abuse within either family. NEIL Venables was warned by friends not to let his son play with the other boy. Robert passed this down the line bullying his eight-year-old brother into playing truant. The officer who questioned Venables took the stand and explained how he had asked Susan Venables to absent herself from the next session as her presence was now inhibiting her son from telling the truth. Hope. We feel so sorry for him because he must be going through so much torment. One could draw some parallels between the film's plot and James Bulger's death. In contrast he has had no contact with his father despite an approach soon after sentencing. Their kids have got everything, she added, bitterly. so they were put in a lower year. That was in September 1991, 17 months before they killed James Bulger. Just seeing the size of them that first time, the childish figures they naturally were, caught my breath. 'In my opinion he was victimised. Ann and Bobby fought regularly in front of the children, with virtually all of the fights leading to physical violence. 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. 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. 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. On one occasion, he said, Robert ran off down the street laughing, "You can't catch me". That's the thing that upsets me because obviously, where I was standing poor little James must have been not far . It is here, of course, that Jon met and made friends with fellow eccentric, Robert Thompson. Look at mine. 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. On many occasions, Susan was observed physically and verbally assaulting Jon. 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. 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. Her warnings arent being heeded, but 25 years on, I think she is probably right. 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. ", Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies. 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. Robert's mother agreed with her son's assessment: 'Name one family in the area who would have a good word for us.'. Mr Venables said: "He wouldn't watch horror. 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. The petition, that now has 14,682 signatures, reads: "We want a Public Inquiry into the James Bulger murder case. 'They would say 'take your son home'. You know, we just try and help him as best we can to try to come to terms with things. . kl. It was not until much later, when questioned as to his involvement in the death of James Bulger, that Roberts resentment towards the new baby became suddenly and painfully apparent. I just think of James and his Dad and about all that fun with his little boy, like I had with Jon.". He always had plenty of friends. 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. THE first time the boys set eyes on each other after they were arrested was in Preston crown court 3 1/2 weeks ago. Join Facebook to connect with Susan Venables and others you may know. Susan Venables, mother of Jon - referred to throughout the trial as Boy B - blamed her son's 'weakness' for the murder of James Bulger, . 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. Her husband came back to Walton now and again to see his mother, but he never came to see the boys.
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