'It was good. 'I couldn't hear anything,' she said. As a new documentary is set to air on ITV, the haunting words of Jon Venables' parents have resurfaced. They knew what they were doing," another wrote. She was paranoid about being discovered. In 2010, Meggie Atkinson, then children's commissioner for England, called for the age of criminal responsibility to be raised to 12 in light of the trial. 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. It was so stressful trying to contain him. 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. He has had his holidays like everyone else. Susan Venables's bent body shrank deeper into itself. Such a childish voice. Moments later, we were told, Jon Venables uttered the words, We did it. Jon spent Sunday to Thursday with his mum and the rest of every week with his dad. I couldnt make any sense of it, Robert later recalled, desolately, when asked about his fathers unexpected departure. ql zo. "He is easily led. He did like to be liked, and loved to have friends, and he has got involved with the wrong person.". This time we came together in shock and disbelief. 2023 BBC. 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. Teachers hold placards as they shout slogans while taking part in a protest organised in Manchester as part of a national strike day. Jon's first year after he was moved was relatively successful. 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. 'The attitude when you live where we live is that you have to be tough or else you don't survive,' she said. The mayor of Preston accused them of being sick ghouls, but still they came, queuing up for tickets two hours before proceedings began. He has had more love and attention than a lot of children I know. Bird Pictures. A day later she would face much worse. 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. 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. 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. Jon breaks into hysteria whenever the subject is mentioned. So much happened whilst I was there involving Jon. The Crown Prosecution Service released a statement in January confirming Venables had been charged. Less thanfive hours laterthe verdicts were in. Truanting, or 'sagging off', had become a way of life for Robert. Maybe it was that incident that put the idea into Jon or Robbie's head to 'get a little boy lost'. Grainy CCTV footage shows them walking James away from the Strand . 'Provided you have no court orders for debts already,' the man on the phone would add helpfully. 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. so they were put in a lower year. "Throughout the conduct of the case there have been a number of issues that have been swept under the carpet. Mrs Venables described how she searched for Jon. Counsel for the prosecution, Richard Henriques QC, made it clear all three elements needed to be proved for a murder conviction. 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. fun to be with" and always had plenty of friends. 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. 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. 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). There was a pattern of bullying, with the older boys picking on their younger brothers down the line. Then they had carried, dragged and kicked him along a two and a half mile journey, at times swinging him violently in the air or dropping him against the road, until they reached the railway where they stoned him with bricks, bashed his head with a 22lb iron bar, and left him dead across the tracks to be cut in half by a passing goods train. I am providing this page for those who are interested in learning more about the lives of these boys prior to their offense. After a while he tried to commit suicide to get back in. Most people would regard such sentiments as having come rather late in the day and certainly too late to save poor James. He used to be bullied by other children for being so behind, and would return home at night visibly upset. David James Smith, who wrote a book about the Bulger case, The Sleep Of Reason, and stayed in touch with Ann Thompson afterwards. His body was found two days later on a railway line. "He is easily led. This would have been at about 5.30pm - just the time the boys were about to begin killing Jamie. The appearance in court this week of Venables, now a 35-year-old man, on charges of possessing indecent images of children, was a jarring reminder that, still a quarter of a century on, his rehabilitation is more an ambition than a reality. There, he is terrorising a girl. His grip was so strong that it took two people to pry Jon off of the boy. It is about a Good Guy doll invaded by the spirit of a mass murderer who kills people in gruesome ways. Their. She said that Jon was always "loving, caring, thoughtful and considerate . susan venables - Director - Juju & Co | LinkedIn The sunrises through the sea mist over the sculpture The Couple by Sean Henry at Newbiggin-by-the-Sea on the Northumberland coast. his mother was told that it was important that she stayed in his life and stood by him. Those who knew him well said he was a very emotional child, prone to mood swings. 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. Shame? The police have uncovered no evidence of any abuse within either family. When shop keepers asked what they were doing they would pretend they were waiting for their mum. However, you will find some great articles which you can comment on right now in our Comment section. But. Lawyers for the pair argued that the adult court venue and publicity made it impossible for the schoolboys to be given a fair trial. Witness after witness who had seen them, or stopped and asked them what was going on, took the stand. Born on August 13th, 1982, Jon was the middle child of Neil and Susan Venables. On Sundays he used to watch Thunderbirds. "Just TV programmes and little things remind me of the good times we had together . Everton was his team. This means that we may include adverts from us and third parties based on our knowledge of you. Jon was also mad on computers. His father, Neil, an unemployed panel-beater, was separated from his mother but they lived only a mile apart, saw each other every other day, and took equal care of the children. It's high time they were investigated. How can people defend their actions .#TheBulgerKillers.". what is the bite force of a baboon. She was prone to hysteria and hailed from a 'strict and disciplined' background. . Then they would hide their school satchels under a subway and set off on their adventure. ", 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.". 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. MOST of the boys were bright. this weekend for breaching the terms of his early release, the parents of both the Bulger killers continue to stand by them. His mates called him a girl because whenever there was something on his mind he sucked his thumb. 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His mother gave him pocket money to buy them. 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. Her husband came back to Walton now and again to see his mother, but he never came to see the boys. It was their sons picked up by detectives. Boy A - Robert Thompson - was the shorter and more rounded of the two. his killers were just 10 years old and attention focused on their upbringing and dysfunctional home life. Bulger killer had 'better life' after toddler murder - BBC News They would hang around the video shop in Walton Village where the shop girl was pleased to have their company. Sandra Gotheridge. They saw it with their eyes. The judge, in sentencing the boys yesterday, voiced his strong suspicion that exposure to violent videos had played a strong part in corrupting them. Get out and get into Dyson Hall children's centre, the only residential care school in the country just outside Liverpool. Grey Heron. Natural Landmarks. 'We have never really been apart,' Mrs Venables said. Channel 5 is set to air a new two-part documentary that tells the definitive story of . But I still kept him in if he was naughty or anything like that.'. ", Children accused of a crime are usually granted anonymity, but at the end of the trial the judge allowed both to be named, "because the public interest overrode the interest of the defendants.". The two bumped into each other - literally - in the school playground in the middle of a fight. Robert is not believed to have reoffended - Venables has been convicted twice since being set free. According to a legal source we spoke to this week, Jon Venables parents have sought to be a support for their son, despite the enormity of his crime. 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. Venables received a 40-month prison sentence after appearing via video link at the Old Bailey. sons, were settled in council houses within easy reach of the institutions where their sons were being held. Once the jury retired, so did the journalists - but we didnt go far. 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. Susan Venables is on Facebook. Everyone called him Chubby, because of his round, cherub's face. 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. Another added: "An awful mistake??!! I thought he was all right, Jon said of Robert during his police interviews. Jon, who had the most trouble sleeping, appeared fearful of Susan, and was terrified, above all, of her condemnation. Shed never been back but she clearly missed Liverpool and had tried to recreate the city in her new home, he recalls. 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. View the profiles of people named Susan Venables. 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. 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. In contrast he has had no contact with his father despite an approach soon after sentencing. His parents, Susan and Neil, accompanied him during the interview process. He was given a new name, a job and a flat on his release to try to ensure his security . Will you tell his mum I'm sorry?". fn ye vw la. He was also given 'respite care' - six weekly weekend breaks to relieve the family of the burden of looking after him. This story has no borders,' NBC correspondent Denis Murphy said. Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Following the arrest of their sons it was reported that the mothers of the boys had been attacked and vilified in. He is an old-fashioned crime and punishment man. 'They were just your average scruff - like the rest of us.'. View the profiles of people named Susan Venables. 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. You know, we just try and help him as best we can to try to come to terms with things. 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. Thompson did what he often did, looked around, grabbing clumsily at his tongue. While, on the face of it, there doesnt appear to be as much external devastation present in Jons family history as in Roberts, his outlandish behavior suggested that internally, Jon was in a state of extreme emotional upset. The family was already exhaustingly overextended, and Robert, being the fifth edition, was quick to pick up on the coping mechanisms needed to survive in a life of unremitting chaos and enmity. Southern. 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. Susan Venables - People Directory - 192.com 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. Resentful of her husbands lack of involvement with the children, Susan conceded that the couple fought constantly, especially throughout 1983, but maintained that Neil had never been aggressive towards her, nor had she hit him. In the last few years she stopped drinking in the Top House and tried to keep things together. See today's front and back pages, download the newspaper, order back issues and use the historic Daily Express newspaper archive. In court, he hid his face again. After a while the boys became used to it. One day they stayed out until 10.30pm and Jon received a severe reprimand from his mother. A newsroom reporter who was not working on the case fended off transatlantic interview demands, saying that it was not enough that he had a Liverpool accent. Venables was a different creature. Without anyone in the family to turn to for support, he had to look outside for people whose swaggering aggression he could emulate. Our feelings haven't changed towards him. "I don't think we went wrong as parents at all. CCTV images revealed how James had been lured away by Thompson and Venables, who was also aged 10. I wasnt on duty that day, so the very beginnings of the story washed over me. . 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. Haunting words of killer Jon Venables' parents resurface on 25th Yes, these things are important, but trust. In all, they played truant four times. 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. 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. Celestial. That was in September 1991, 17 months before they killed James Bulger. "The age of criminal responsibility in this country is 10 that's too low. Just as Venables's confession convicted him, a shoe print belonging to Robert Thompson, found on James cheekbone, confirmed his guilt, too. Both parents hope was that he would make something of his life and eventually find some peace. Sitting in the new class was a chubby boy with a cherub's face - Robert Thompson. Meanwhile, A petition demanding a public inquiry into James Bulger's murder case has got nearly 15,000 signatures in one day. I'm bringing up on my own but if I went round and screwed every warehouse my children would have everything too.'. It was when Jon turned seven that Susan and the children had relocated to Norris Green, one of Liverpools larger, more reputable areas. Jobs were few and far between. 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. Dudson was given a minimum term of 18 years. Why would I want to kill him? he said, referring to the slain toddler. It was their sons picked up by detectives. Both of them struggled at school and had been lumped into the year below their age. Big Bobby, like Anns father, was a violent alcoholic, who was easily crossed. football, snooker, things like that. When Jon's parents gave a recent press interview, it was Mrs Venables who did most of the talking; the father just sat and cried. Will you tell his Mum Im sorry?. Or by navigating to the user icon in the top right. Birds. Still, despite being clearly intimidated by him, Roberts brother appeared to share a strangely intimate bond with him. 'You'd better tell the truth. 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. 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. Ms Truss has written a 4,000-word essay in todays Sunday Telegraph in which she stood by her plans to boost economic growth during her short tenure in No 10, Liverpool goalkeeper Alisson Becker fails to stop team-mate Joel Matip (not pictured) from scoring an own goal during the Premier League match at Molineux Stadium, Wolverhampton, A member of the public lines the road into St Michaels on Wyre, Lancashire, with missing posters of Nicola Bulley, 45, as police continue their search for the missing woman who was last seen on the morning of Friday January 27, when she was spotted walking her dog on a footpath by the nearby River Wyre, Not your usual prisoner! Twenty-five years on, Im still prone to hot tears at the memory of it all and I do question the trial. The couple was financially strained from the start, but Ann did what she could to make it work. 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. He said he was frightened of Robert's older brother. I said no. 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. From the moment Robert Thompson and Jon Venables were convicted of the murder of James Bulger, their, families have been condemned to lives spent looking over their shoulders. 'America is the land of shopping malls. Security launched a search for James inside the centre and James' family searched for their son overnight. Their kids have got everything, she added, bitterly. Trauma? He started with Liverpool, but by the time of the murder he had switched to Blackburn Rovers. Susan, aged 36, a sharp woman . Jon Venables said the class teacher tried to entice Robert by offering him a prize for a week's continual attendance - he did, but the prize never came. . He was jailed for two years before being granted parole again in July 2013. On the days he was at school he had a knack for stirring things up. Born 10 days apart in August 1982 in Liverpool. The taunts upset Jons already volatile temper, and he began coming home in increasingly low spirits and crying. In March 2010, Venables was recalled to prison for downloading and distributing more than 100 images of child abuse. At the time Ann Thompson pleaded for her son to be left alone and revealed that she and her other children had been forced to move house nine times in eight years. She spent much of her time at the pub after that, and rarely stayed in for a meal. Although he appeared to have the more stable upbringing of the two boys, there was a history of family problems. "In terms of knowing what the full consequences of your actions are, you are into older childhood or adolescence. 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. Susan seemed happy with the arrangement, although, for the children, this type of relationship would have been just one more confusing anomaly to cope with in the wake of an already confusing time in their young lives. Seeing at first hand the pain of a family who have lost a toddler to an act of brutal violence is almost unbearably moving. His response couldn't have been more different as he sank into the oversized blazer he was wearing. One woman asked how James had injured his forehead. It was the kind of family neighbours compare themselves against and then feel better. They hid his body under bricks so that the first train to come along cut his body in two, but he was already dead before this happened. It worked. 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 street. Susan Venables Profiles | Facebook ROBERT THOMPSON - angelfire.com "What he's done is wrong so he needs to be punished. By now the two boys from Walton were part of an international freak show. More often, he would pinch them from local shops. A heartstopping moment came when the playing of the tapes in court was paused. The bleached houses were peppered with burglar alarms, the shabby ones did not look worth the trouble. Revealed: The horror drawing by Jon Venables weeks before he killed The guilty verdicts came quickly - within five hours. If I wanted to kill a baby, Id kill Id kill me own, wouldnt I?. Forensic and pathology evidence was a huge challenge for everyone, not least the jury who were shown pictures of James' injuries. They were drawn to one another quickly. Get the biggest TV headlines, recaps and insider knowledge straight to your inbox. Striking members of the National Education Union (NEU) South East Region at a rally in Chichester, West Sussex, in a long-running dispute over pay, Members of the Welsh Guards replace their bearskin headress after giving three cheers during a St David's Day visit to the 1st Battalion Welsh Guards at Combermere Barracks in Windsor, Berkshire, Princess of Wales and Prince William take part in a spin class uring a visit to Aberavon Leisure and Fitness Center to meet local communities and hear about how sport and exercise can support mental health and wellbeing, in Port Talbot, Wales, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen during a press conference at the Guildhall in Windsor, Berkshire, following the announcement that they have struck a deal over the Northern Ireland Protocol, Homes sit close to the cliff edge at Hemsby in Norfolk, where the beach has been closed off because of significant erosion and the risk that homes could fall into the sea, Members of the Russian Democratic Society, a group of Russian citizens living in the UK, stage a protest outside the Russian embassy in London, to mark the one year anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Members of the Ukrainian Armed Forces enter 10 Downing Street, in London, after the National one minutes silence to mark one year since the invasion of Ukraine by Russia, Labour Party leader Sir Keir Starmer delivers a speech at the head office of the Co-Operative Group in Manchester, unveiling plans for a mission-led Labour government, with five national missions setting out his objectives for a Labour government if the party gains power at the next general election, Ukrainian soldiers pose with a Ukrainian flag next to a military vehicle at Bovington Camp in Dorset, Stunning colours before sunrise as people walk their dogs on Tynemouth Longsands beach in Tynemouth on the North east coast, Visitors observe Dippy the Diplodocus at the Herbert Art Gallery and Museum in Coventry, where the museum will be hosting the 26-metre long replica skeleton for the next three years, Flowers, and ribbons on a bridge over the River Wyre in St Michael's on Wyre, Lancashire, where police recovered a body on Sunday, which was found by members of the public close to where Nicola Bulley disappeared on January 27, Protesters clash at a refugees welcome rally in Liverpool city centre, A Porsche 911 car is damaged by a fallen tree in Harrogate, North Yorkshire, as a result of storm Otto.
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