Another added: "An awful mistake??!! Hyperactive children can't sit still all day,' Mrs Venables said. At night, for instance, the two boys would lie in bed together and suck each others thumbs. They and Ann Thompson, who has six other. CCTV images revealed how James had been lured away by Thompson and Venables, who was also aged 10. It is just heartbreaking.". 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. We will never be able to do the fun things any more . his killers were just 10 years old and attention focused on their upbringing and dysfunctional home life. Jon breaks into hysteria whenever the subject is mentioned. "He fell over," was the response. He's quite bright and clever. On the walls hung oil paintings of local judges and magistrates, their surfaces crinkled with age. She also had to stay strong for the remaining children. Ironically, the relationship between mother and son improved when he, was behind bars. I don't think so. We use your sign-up to provide content in the ways you've consented to and improve our understanding of you. INSIDE the court sat the two boys, dwarfed by the weight and majesty of the place. Asked later if he could recall a time when his brother had exhibited any unusually aggressive tendencies, Roberts brother said no: Hes frightened of his own shadow. Nonetheless, in hindsight, its safe to assume that by 1993, ten-year-old Robert was swiftly approaching crisis point., Alarmingly, some of the neighboring children later claimed to have seen Robert behave cruelly towards animals, and pull the heads off of baby pigeons, although this was never unequivocally confirmed. ', A psychoanalyst and child psychotherapist comes up with yet another possible explanation. 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. It was so stressful trying to contain him. Drivers have been warned to leave extra time for their Monday morning commute due to icy roads during rush hour, following a weekend of wintry weather. I thought he was all right, Jon said of Robert during his police interviews. qu fy. "My heart really goes out to them. I just burst into tears because you just knew what that meanther heart was broken. But after a year they let Ian out again. The hardliners in the police have a simpler explanation. MOST of the boys were bright. That was in September 1991, 17 months before they killed James Bulger. His mother gave him pocket money to buy them. I cant believe people find excuses for these murderers. "In order that justice can be done, no further details are being released at this stage and the proceedings are subject to reporting restrictions.". We feel so sorry for him because he must be going through so much torment. 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. 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. Susan Venables has blamed "weakness" for her son's role in the killing of James Bulger, claiming that he "got involved with the wrong person". Celestial. and things like that is that he was frightened. I made notes of the pathologists evidence. Forensic and pathology evidence was a huge challenge for everyone, not least the jury who were shown pictures of James' injuries. She was a woman as large in personality and physique as the burdens she carried. She got her drinking under control and began giving her murderer son the attention he. Ann denied the physical abuse, but later admitted to being cruel to the boys at times. When Robert was asked what his hobby was he did not say trolls but 'skipping school'. 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'. But apart from his brother, Robert struggled to build friendships. "He is easily led. Neil explained to him that the school they attended was special, and that Jon wouldnt be accepted. Only a handful of officials and close family members know their true identities. ql zo. Lady Penelope was his favourite character because she was rich, followed by Brains with the glasses. fun to be with" and always had plenty of friends. Read about our approach to external linking. Mrs Venables has also said that she felt. 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. Maybe it was that incident that put the idea into Jon or Robbie's head to 'get a little boy lost'. Venables on the other hand was becoming increasingly agitated in the police interviews. Just as Venables's confession convicted him, a shoe print belonging to Robert Thompson, found on James cheekbone, confirmed his guilt, too. I know how I feel as a mother. Her husband came back to Walton now and again to see his mother, but he never came to see the boys. sons, were settled in council houses within easy reach of the institutions where their sons were being held. Look at mine. The case is doomed to be picked over by every faction within the caring professionals and politics. Hope. Mr Venables said that the two boys had played truant together four times before, adding that he caught them twice. 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. On Sundays he used to watch Thunderbirds. Behind them eyes bore into them - from everyone on all sides, journalists, their parents, members of the public, and of course, theBulgerfamily. He was always getting prizes for maths at school. This story has no borders,' NBC correspondent Denis Murphy said. 'I walked round for a couple of hours trying to find them. . He took a jar of paracetamol. Mrs Thompson claimed she had been the victim of revenge attacks after her identity became known. Her family were dignified throughout, but on that day one of theBulgerfamily supporters allowed themselvesa loud 'YES' as the verdicts came in. The old wood panelled courtroom is small. His grip was so strong that it took two people to pry Jon off of the boy. fun to be with". The best instincts led hundreds, including me, to lay flowers a few days later at the site of James horrific end. 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. Susan Venable - we found 141 people search records: 55 CVs and social profiles with photos, 50 addresses & phone numbers, 1 real estate objects, 6 Susan Venable's cars, 2 companies. She was paranoid about being discovered. Such pleasantries were not for Robbie. Shame? They deal with drugs, they deal with everything. Thompson and Venables, now both 27 years old, are among only four individuals in the UK whose crimes are so notorious that they have been given lifelong anonymity. Robert said 'If you tell anybody I'll get my big brother to batter you up'. 'You'd better tell the truth. Ann Thompson and Susan and Neil Venables didn't need to imagine. 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. They were sent home to their mother at one point, but after attempting suicide with overdoses, were placed back into care. He carried books on wrestling and wildlife in his school bag. That's the thing that upsets me because obviously where I was standing poor little James must have been not. 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. Denise Bulger believes her son's murderers - men now - should be in prison for ever. It seems likely that he was bullied. The sunrises through the sea mist over the sculpture The Couple by Sean Henry at Newbiggin-by-the-Sea on the Northumberland coast. Verdict day came. 'I think about little James and what he must have gone through, how they must feel. And there were rewards for breaking rules. 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. Once he stole decorating borders from a DIY shop which he discarded at regular intervals to mark his way home. Susan Venables, mother of Jon - referred to throughout the trial as Boy B - blamed her son's 'weakness' for the murder of James Bulger, and said he was going through torment. "All he said when we've said 'Why didn't you run away?' Many of us had dined together most nights throughout the trial, mulling it all over but distracting ourselves, too. In March 2010, Venables was recalled to prison for downloading and distributing more than 100 images of child abuse. re bz. portrayed him as the leader and evil one, says James Smith. 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. . 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. The week after he walked out the family's home burned down in an accidental fire. We have found 88 people in the UK with the name Susan Venables. They went on family outings together, slept together, and when Susan did find a place, virtually coexisted between the two homes. 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. si fs. They have never come out of hiding. 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. Mr Venables ran out of the car and grabbed him, while Robert ran off down the street laughing and shouting: 'You can't catch me.'. Robert Thompson was born to Robert Sr. and Ann Thompson on the 23rd day of August 1982, in Liverpool, England. Lock him in it.'. Their. Mrs Thompson worked as an office cleaner until two years ago, when she got pregnant again by another man, who also left her. The first Susan Venables knew they had stayed away from school was when she saw one of Jon's classmates on her way home with the gerbils. He always had plenty of friends. sp. 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. I didnt connect the dots until much later on. 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. Read about our approach to external linking. Once Robert shared with him a tin of Roses chocolates which he had poured surreptitiously into his coat pocket. For me, though, it is Susan and Neil Venables who stay most in my memory of that day. Anne Thompson could hold her drink and no one ever saw her staggering home. They would sneak out during the morning break, hiding behind a wall before the coast was clear. Every day the public gallery was packed with students, pensioners, mothers, teenagers, all drawn to the courtroom spectacle as to a TV soap. It was their sons picked up by detectives. He is an old-fashioned crime and punishment man. 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. 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. He was pale in complexion and had watery brown, listless eyes. "Contrary to what the papers will tell you, he is not a little urchin boy. In the business world, too many people think it's all about being hard, tough, ambitious, or having grit. Sometimes Robert would sag off on his own, but it was more fun with a friend. But his comment sparked anger from viewers. Without anyone in the family to turn to for support, he had to look outside for people whose swaggering aggression he could emulate. They did. Left to his own devices Jon liked to spend his playtime in fairly sedentary ways. On one occasion one of Anns sons let his real name slip at school and they had to move almost at once, says. He also liked to scare old ladies by jumping out in front of their noses. "Just TV programmes and little things remind me of the good times we had together . "You look at him and you say to yourself, 'How could you be involved in anything like this?'" 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. 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. I came back and then (Mrs Venables) went out. - a grey heron in Asawn, Southern Egypt. The Venables decided to place her with their eldest son, in a school for children with special needs. You know, we just try and help him as best we can to try to come to terms with things. She found it hard bringing the kids up in the neighbourhood. He had left her to bring up six children alone. ", 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.". 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. We are proud to endorse the COP27 Leather Manifesto. Meanwhile, Thompson has not re-offended since his release, and is believed to be in a long-term relationship with a man who knows who he really is. 'His mum was more strict. . Jon Venables is demonstrably no such thing. 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They said their son met Robert Thompson in September 1991, when Jon was transferred from another school. On the days he was at school he had a knack for stirring things up. The taunts upset Jons already volatile temper, and he began coming home in increasingly low spirits and crying. Grainy CCTV footage shows them walking James away from the Strand . They were drawn to one another quickly. Just something to do.'. By now the Venables were reunited as a result of the court case. Could they have planned to do it in advance? He once came to me crying saying the other boys were picking on him, trying to steal his bike.'. 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. 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. But Robert was stuck in Walton with his older brothers and the baby. To do that he put on the witness stand all those people who had seen the three boys on the route from the shopping centre to the railway line. 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. 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. Facebook gives people the power to share and makes the world more open and connected. 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. Susan, aged 36, a sharp woman . Susan Venables agreed but on condition that she saw her son first. Mrs Venables said: 'I think it was because the class group was too big for them to go in . 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. Still, despite being clearly intimidated by him, Roberts brother appeared to share a strangely intimate bond with him. On countless occasions, Bobby battered his wife, once causing her to miscarry, and his temper didnt stop at his wife. Sorry, we are unable to accept comments about this article at the moment. fn ye vw la. yet, as Venables is back behind bars. Southern. He was fearful of the other boy. He's a good reader if he's interested in it. Denise was in court that day. Born on August 13th, 1982, Jon was the middle child of Neil and Susan Venables. These are the words of an officer who was in the police station when DCI Geoff MacDonald of Merseyside Police broke the news to Denise that James was dead. In the years between Venabless first return to prison and this latest conviction he was deemed to be living successfully in the community, when in fact he was working out ways to dodge his internet ban and hiding a computer in his headboard in order to download abusive images of children, including what the judge described this week as serious crimes inflicted on male toddlers. Get the biggest TV headlines, recaps and insider knowledge straight to your inbox. Instead, she was involved in an ITV documentary with Sir Trevor McDonald that will air on Thursday. His mother especially has been a tower of strength, says the source. It is just heartbreaking.". . . "The report of the Prison Service into an incident at Red Bank secure unit has not been published. He was jailed for two years before being granted parole again in July 2013. A maudlin ballad about Liverpool was playing in the back- ground and she was cooking the dish known as Scouse. the street. He disliked Thunderbirds because of the puppets' 'stringy thingies'. Robert was number five of seven. His mates called him a girl because whenever there was something on his mind he sucked his thumb. He was in great distress' And what about the little, innocent boy he killed??! Sandra Gotheridge. I wish we could turn the clocks back,' Mrs Venables, 36, said. We feel so sorry for him because he must be going through so much torment. Why would I want to kill him? he said, referring to the slain toddler. 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. Yes, these things are important, but trust. How can people defend their actions .#TheBulgerKillers.". 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. Susan opted to remove him from the school then, and some months later, she reenrolled him in St. Marys in Walton. One investigating police officer said: 'You could look into the eyes of Robert and knew you were looking at evil.' What's the least amount of exercise we can get away with? This means that we may include adverts from us and third parties based on our knowledge of you. The government will be required to respond within 14 days if as the petition achieves more than 100,000 signatures. It is not known whether the boy watched any of his father's adult movies. Venables was a different creature. Jobs were few and far between. 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. I have cried for JamesBulgermany times, so God only knows the tears his parents and family have shed. Liked by susan venables. Ian was clever enough to know that to survive he had to get out. One day they stayed out until 10.30pm and Jon received a severe reprimand from his mother. Kids fantasise about such things. 'They were just your average scruff - like the rest of us.'. They knew what they were doing," another wrote. Denise Fergus remains convinced both will always be a danger to children. Look at mine. From a distance Robert looked a sweet child. '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. xf fy. There was almost total silence there apart from the sound of shoes on the ground. She spent much of her time at the pub after that, and rarely stayed in for a meal. The primary concern among the faculty was Roberts growing amount of absences. Security launched a search for James inside the centre and James' family searched for their son overnight. But now and again. Hes your son., Unhappily, it was during this critical time that Ann became pregnant with her seventh child, the product of another failed relationship. The beginnings of the friendship were inauspicious enough. He is one of those children that if you told him to put his hand in the fire, he would. 'It's always our family that gets the blame,' Robert said to police after he was arrested for James's murder. In return, Jon would let Robert ride his bicycle, and from time to time he would suggest naughty deeds himself. King Charles III shakes hands with Ukraines President Volodymyr Zelensky as he welcomes at Buckingham Palace, in London, ahead of an audience during his first visit to the UK since the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Jon's first year after he was moved was relatively successful. Aged 10, he was barely literate. 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. ', 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. Their faces affected me deeply. The Telegraph values your comments but kindly requests all posts are on topic, constructive and respectful. .". 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.