It was when Jon turned seven that Susan and the children had relocated to Norris Green, one of Liverpools larger, more reputable areas. Nicola had to exchange some clothes at TJ Hughes, Denise waited nearby, watching the children. "An awful mistake for 10 year olds is shoplifting not murdering a 2 year old FFS," another angry viewer tweeted. Their seats were just below the raised dock where their sons would sit for the next three weeks, listening to a prosecution which aimed to prove not only that they killed James Bulger, but that they planned to, and that when they did they knew it to be wrong. 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. 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. One neighbour said she always let him into her home whenever his mother was out. 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. Shame? He was fearful, he was weak and he was provoked," she said. 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. After a while the 10-year-olds began to charge - a tenner an interview. There, he is terrorising a girl. Teachers hold placards as they shout slogans while taking part in a protest organised in Manchester as part of a national strike day. 'We have never really been apart,' Mrs Venables said. 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. Child killer Mary Bell and Maxine Carr, the former girlfriend of Soham murderer Ian Huntley, are the others. One of Anns sons claimed that Ann, too, had beaten them with sticks, and had struck one of the boys with a cane. He's quite bright and clever. After they became friends he initiated Jon into the delights of climbing into people's back gardens and the consequent thrill of being chased out by the owners. Jon was slim in build and taller than Robert, just over five feet. A parole board ruled that Thompson and Venables were no longer a threat. Only a handful of officials and close family members know their true identities. He believes these were evil boys. I didnt, did I? she said to Neil during their interview with Gitta Sereny. 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. At Radio City in Liverpool the calls were coming through from Australia, New Zealand and Canada. ROBERT THOMPSON - angelfire.com When shop keepers asked what they were doing they would pretend they were waiting for their mum. I didnt connect the dots until much later on. I'm bringing up on my own but if I went round and screwed every warehouse my children would have everything too.'. "He fell over," was the response. The days James was abducted, February 12 1993, I was a young reporter in my home city of Liverpool. His father, thin and balding, had a much gentler edge. re bz. I would say he was provoked. He has been educated. Once the jury retired, so did the journalists - but we didnt go far. The case of James, a two-year-old who was snatched from a shopping centre in Bootle, Liverpool, in 1993, before being tortured and left to die, shocked the nation. Hyperactive children can't sit still all day,' Mrs Venables said. I know how I feel as a mother. Both had a need to attract attention, which they achieved through a host of petty rebellions. They had to report him missing at the security office before he was found, and Jon's mother was very angry. Lawyers for the pair argued that the adult court venue and publicity made it impossible for the schoolboys to be given a fair trial. 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Celestial. He would often have to stay in class at break times to catch up. The two had an aberrant relationship with one another, in the sense that it was almost as though they had never divorced. "My heart really goes out to them. Usually, they were slung out. It was so stressful trying to contain him. Shortly after the breakup, an accidental fire destroyed the Thompsons home, leaving Ann homeless, jobless, and with little money to support her kids. That means he is currently 35-years-old. . For his parents, the fact they were children was actually a cause for hope at that point. I said no. ", Her husband, Neil, said: "If you had a league table of children, you would put him at the bottom of the list for anything like this.". He carried books on wrestling and wildlife in his school bag. Susan Venables is on Facebook. 'In my opinion he was victimised. Robert always wanted to stay out late and encouraged Jon to join him. Since the murder Robert has been in a state of post-traumatic shock, hounded by nightmares and flashbacks from the railway tracks. More often, he would pinch them from local shops. Join Facebook to connect with Susan Venables and others you may know. Its beyond me," one viewer tweeted. Many of us had dined together most nights throughout the trial, mulling it all over but distracting ourselves, too. Mrs Venables has also said that she felt heartbreak for James and his parents and shame for her son. Channel 5 is set to air a new two-part documentary that tells the definitive story of . The citys worst instincts produced the wrongful hounding of a family whose sons people decided were responsible. Mrs Venables said: "He mentions James, not all the time. 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. The two bumped into each other - literally - in the school playground in the middle of a fight. The Killing of James Bulger: Where are Robert Thompson and Jon Venables What a horror it all was. Robert said 'If you tell anybody I'll get my big brother to batter you up'. He caused me such anxiety, the teacher later recalled of Jon in a statement given to the Merseyside police. He said that on the day James was killed, when he went to the school in the afternoon to collect Jon he was told his son was missing. Most people would regard such sentiments as having come rather late in the day and certainly too late to save poor James. sp. He appears to be a normal human, but inside the soft flesh there is indestructable metal. It is claimed that taxpayers could have to fork out another 250,000 to provide a new life when he is eventually released. He also liked to scare old ladies by jumping out in front of their noses. Their parents entered the courtroom; The Venables arrived together, Ann Thompson came with supporters but no sign of Robert's father. He was jailed for two years before being granted parole again in July 2013. 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. 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. Robert had eaten too many and felt sick. fun to be with" and always had plenty of friends. Last November he was arrested and recalled to jail on suspicion of possession of images of child sex abuse. Witness after witness who had seen them, or stopped and asked them what was going on, took the stand. '25 years after the James Bulger trial, I still shed hot tears at the Jon Venables now: How old is James Bulger's killer? What happened to In all, they played truant four times. Jon's parents said they talked to their son about James after he was arrested, but had to stop. He is one of those children that if you told him to put his hand in the fire, he would. The Bulger Murder: Mother cannot believe that 'devious' child killed: One investigating police officer said: 'You could look into the eyes of Robert and knew you were looking at evil.' 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. So, when he first began his association with classmate Jon Venables, in September 1992, Robert was happy to have finally befriended a boy like Jon, who could almost always be persuaded to follow in his lead. Our feelings haven't changed towards him. 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. Home of the Daily and Sunday Express. . Susan Venables, now 53, suffered from severe depres-sion and struggled with her two other children, an older son and younger daughter, who suffered learning difficulties. Once Robert shared with him a tin of Roses chocolates which he had poured surreptitiously into his coat pocket. God knows how they must be feeling now.. He is far from it. He was repulsed because he found Robert's disdain for authority scary. and things like that is that he was frightened. An Egret looking for his dinner! - Aswan, Egypt | Bird pictures, Aswan She was living in secrecy but always felt that she was walking around with a huge sign: mother of Bulger killer, above her head. Neil Venables regarded himself as the Barry Norman of Merseyside - a film buff with a penchant for horror. It would be a week before we heard their voices, in hours of taped police interviews, They stopped us all in our tracks. Then there were the separated parents, the poverty, the truanting, the videos. When she turned around moments later, her son was gone. cl gz. There was almost total silence there apart from the sound of shoes on the ground. 'I think about little James and what he must have gone through, how they must feel. See that cell. Who were their parents? 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 the fisticuffs ended, they made friends.' He has had more love and attention than a lot of children I know. Absence of a male role model is increasingly being explored - by both left and right - as one of the main reasons why today's boys and young men are going wrong; why 90 per cent of indictable offences are committed by men. Forensic and pathology evidence was a huge challenge for everyone, not least the jury who were shown pictures of James' injuries. 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. He has had his holidays like everyone else. Just having a bit of shade!! It was this empowering chemistry between them that some argued set into motion the life-altering events that would devastate a family, challenge a community, and rock a nations core in the disquieting months that followed. Both had parents who had separated. ', 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. He always had plenty of friends. He used to be bullied by other children for being so behind, and would return home at night visibly upset. By now, Robert had also stepped comfortably into the role of the aggressor, and, following in the footsteps of his elder brothers, began tormenting his eight-year-old brother on a daily basis. This would have put Jon in a particularly arduous position, as the couples only excelling child, and as author Gitta Sereny observed from her time spent with the Venables in 1994, forcing this middle child, Jon, for a long time, perhaps unconsciously, to compensate his mother for her two problem children, put an enormous weight of responsibility on this child virtually from the time he was born., As Susan struggled to manage her two disadvantaged children day to day, Neil was the familys breadwinner, working as a forklift driver. The Venables decided to place her with their eldest son, in a school for children with special needs. 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. 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. Walton Village Financial Services would lend you pounds 300 for Christmas and demand a total of pounds 460 in repayment. Superintendent Kirby is a religious man. Something went wrong, please try again later. But after a year they let Ian out again. Still, despite being clearly intimidated by him, Roberts brother appeared to share a strangely intimate bond with him. Jon's parents, who sat in court for most of the trial, said they grieved for the Bulgers. Self pity? "In order that justice can be done, no further details are being released at this stage and the proceedings are subject to reporting restrictions.". 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. Venables, who was said to have been subjected to regular beatings by his mother Susan, titled the drawing 'My Dads house'. 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. View the profiles of people named Susan Venables. DAVID James Smith, who visited Mrs Thompson at one of her secret homes, reveals that it was a sad existence. '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.'. Mrs Thompson worked as an office cleaner until two years ago, when she got pregnant again by another man, who also left her. susan venables - Director - Juju & Co | LinkedIn