Behind them eyes bore into them - from everyone on all sides, journalists, their parents, members of the public, and of course, theBulgerfamily. He said he was frightened of Robert's older brother. More often, he would pinch them from local shops. But his progress took a nose dive in September 1991 when he was transferred into another class. Haunting CCTV footage shows the pair leading the tiny, trusting boy . But now and again. The family was put up in a hostel temporarily and later relocated by the social services. "One mystery surrounding the murder of James Bulger case is why the 'experts' insisted that Jon Venables was rehabilitated. I'm bringing up on my own but if I went round and screwed every warehouse my children would have everything too.'. 'I can't read hard words,' he said. 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. Robert had asked once before but Jon, who had rarely truanted in his previous school, was scared and said no. At the trialnine months laterI would learn that Robert Thompson had been among those people. The documentary on the James Bulger murder case sparked anger after viewers criticised the Channel 4 show for "sympathising" with the toddler's killers. The most agonising thing about the whole case was that so many people had stopped them and questioned them. She was prone to hysteria and hailed from a 'strict and disciplined' background. Facebook gives people the power. View the profiles of people named Susan Venables. 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. Venables served seven years of a life sentence for the 1993 murder before he was freed in June 2001, aged 18. his killers were just 10 years old and attention focused on their upbringing and dysfunctional home life. We still dont know why. 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". Since his 14-year-old brother, Phillip , had already tried to stab him, the social services agreed. Look at mine. Nicola had to exchange some clothes at TJ Hughes, Denise waited nearby, watching the children. 'When the fisticuffs ended, they made friends.' He has been educated. Everton was his team. On countless occasions, Bobby battered his wife, once causing her to miscarry, and his temper didnt stop at his wife. 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. So much happened whilst I was there involving Jon. 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. Ironically, Jon was the child who caused his parents least anxiety. One investigating police officer said: 'You could look into the eyes of Robert and knew you were looking at evil.' The shock in the city was plain to see, but it wasn't just in Liverpool that people stared at the CCTV pictures of the boy holding James' hand, while another led the way to the exit of the shopping centre where a frantic Denise Bulger would have been desperately looking for her child. Moments later, we were told, Jon Venables uttered the words, We did it. Robert was number five of seven. 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. And there were rewards for breaking rules. Maybe it was that incident that put the idea into Jon or Robbie's head to 'get a little boy lost'. football, snooker, things like that. Kids fantasise about such things. qu fy. 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. Click here to find personal data about Susan Venables including phone numbers, addresses, directorships, electoral roll information, related property prices and other useful information. When he played truant he was scared she would come and find him. Born on August 13th, 1982, Jon was the middle child of Neil and Susan Venables. 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. yet, as Venables is back behind bars. 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. What they did was exceptionally unpleasant and the fact that a little boy ended up dead is not something the nation can easily forget. In contrast he has had no contact with his father despite an approach soon after sentencing. They looked, moved, fidgeted, scratched, cried - even sucked their thumbs - just like any 11-year-olds. Thompson admitted nothing. Another added: "An awful mistake??!! 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. 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. They rejected suggestions that he could have watched Child's Play Three, a film that his father had rented three weeks before James's death, which, it has been claimed, included scenes similar to those of the attack on the two-year-old. He says 'I know, Mum'. 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. 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. 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. INSIDE the court sat the two boys, dwarfed by the weight and majesty of the place. 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. Ann was a heavy drinker, separated from her husband, also called Robert, who had deserted the family several years earlier and did not attend court. Start your Independent Premium subscription today. Forensic and pathology evidence was a huge challenge for everyone, not least the jury who were shown pictures of James' injuries. Robert's feelings towards his half-brother also appear to have been ambivalent - he told police he would not have murdered James Bulger because 'if I wanted to kill a baby, I'd kill my own, wouldn't I?'. '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.'. Teachers hold placards as they shout slogans while taking part in a protest organised in Manchester as part of a national strike day. As a result of the incident, Jon's mother decided to move him to another school. As always you can unsubscribe at any time. Twenty-five years on, Im still prone to hot tears at the memory of it all and I do question the trial. 'I thought he was all right,' said Boy B, as he was known in court - Jon Venables. He was in great distress' And what about the little, innocent boy he killed??! This happened, more often than not, at night, when they refused to go to bed when told. ', A psychoanalyst and child psychotherapist comes up with yet another possible explanation. 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. A newspaper man from Detroit said it was because 'Liverpool is the Beatles and love, love, love. Susan Venables agreed but on condition that she saw her son first. UK news in pictures 15 February 2023. . Sitting in the new class was a chubby boy with a cherub's face - Robert Thompson. JON Venables's family was far from affluent, but it was not as close to the breadline as Robert's. . 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. To widespread dismay and condemnation from the Bulger family, the killers were given new identities, courtesy of the taxpayer. fn ye vw la. She found it hard bringing the kids up in the neighbourhood. The reaction prompted James' mum Denise Fergus to let supporters know she had nothing to do with the programme. She couldn't. Channel 5 is set to air a new two-part documentary that tells the definitive story of . "The age of criminal responsibility in this country is 10 that's too low. I wish we could turn the clocks back,' Mrs Venables, 36, said. Thompson did what he often did, looked around, grabbing clumsily at his tongue. At 2:30 they went to the two-story shopping centre. They were intent on killing. She was paranoid about being discovered. From the start, Jon was drawn and repulsed by Robbie like opposite and equal poles of a magnet. "I think about little James and what he must have gone through, how they must feel. Susan and neil venables. "He is easily led. As a new documentary is set to air on ITV, the haunting words of Jon Venables' parents have resurfaced. Not really?. 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. . Both of them struggled at school and had been lumped into the year below their age. Trauma? He was fearful of the other boy. 'The attitude when you live where we live is that you have to be tough or else you don't survive,' she said. Read about our approach to external linking. Eventually, Bobby walked out on his family, but not before beating his wife one final time. James Bulger murder: Shelagh Fogarty remembers the trial Both had parents who had separated. James Bulger would now be weeks away from his 23rd birthday. Among the list were several horror films, including one video in which the police took special interest: Child's Play 3, a film which carries the line 'Children are consumer trainees'. He is an old-fashioned crime and punishment man. MOST of the boys were bright. It is just heartbreaking.". Their. EXCLUSIVE: 20 Years On, The Suzanne Capper Case - Confidentials The primary concern among the faculty was Roberts growing amount of absences. Some people thought they were as old as 12 or 13, but when they met they were both only 10 years old. 'You'd better tell the truth. Financially, the couple appeared to be functioning, but meanwhile, Susan was at the end of her rope with her eldest son, who, having become increasingly frustrated at his inability to communicate, had grown terribly unhappy and was having temper tantrums regularly. Just something to do.'. He took a jar of paracetamol. His body, defiled and broken in two by a train, two miles from where hed been taken, was foundtwo days later. Since the murder Robert has been in a state of post-traumatic shock, hounded by nightmares and flashbacks from the railway tracks. I didnt connect the dots until much later on. For his parents, the fact they were children was actually a cause for hope at that point. Although not officially entered into a witness protection programme they were given help by the authorities in finding new homes and taking on new identities. Jon's parents, who sat in court for most of the trial, said they grieved for the Bulgers. In the last few years she stopped drinking in the Top House and tried to keep things together. From a distance Robert looked a sweet child. Put bluntly, Jon Venables still gets a kick out of seeing small children suffer. It was on his way back to the interview room when Venables finally admitted it: "We did it. 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?". When she turned around moments later, her son was gone. "Just TV programmes and little things remind me of the good times we had together . Another time they were saucy and asked a sales girl if she stocked 'fishy nickers'. Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Robert said 'If you tell anybody I'll get my big brother to batter you up'. One of Anns sons claimed that Ann, too, had beaten them with sticks, and had struck one of the boys with a cane. 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. "All he said when we've said 'Why didn't you run away?' 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. Usually, they were slung out. 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. Jon's parents said they talked to their son about James after he was arrested, but had to stop. 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. I didnt, did I? she said to Neil during their interview with Gitta Sereny. There was almost total silence there apart from the sound of shoes on the ground. Aged 10, he was barely literate. Ann Thompson and Susan and Neil Venables didn't need to imagine. He denied having had any films that were not mainstream, or that were pornographic, in the house. 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. There was a pattern of bullying, with the older boys picking on their younger brothers down the line. susan venables pictures His mother, Anne Marie Thompson, who is 39, got the house from the local housing trust after her husband, Robert, ran off with a woman from Stockport five years ago. She said that Jon was always "loving, caring, thoughtful and considerate . 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. Grainy CCTV footage shows them walking James away from the Strand . The left will make play of social deprivation, unemployment, bad housing and general inner-city rot. When shop keepers asked what they were doing they would pretend they were waiting for their mum. The week after he walked out the family's home burned down in an accidental fire. 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. Denise, James Bugler's mother, went with her brother's girlfriend Nicola to the Bootle Strand Shopping Centre and took James with her. The haunting words of Jon Venables' parents only interview have resurfaced, twenty five years after he killed tot Jamie Bulger. The James Bulger murder View gallery Venables was born on August 12, 1982. They fled the city, never to return. Mrs Venables said: "He mentions James, not all the time. The press were gobbling it up. The bleached houses were peppered with burglar alarms, the shabby ones did not look worth the trouble. I feel so sorry for them. Thompson was inscrutable in the dock as we heard his voice for the first time. Get the biggest TV headlines, recaps and insider knowledge straight to your inbox. Wiping away tears, he went on: 'I feel for that family. "He tends to be a bit hyperactive so his concentration did go a bit, but apart from that he is quite bright, no worries.". Once Robert shared with him a tin of Roses chocolates which he had poured surreptitiously into his coat pocket. . 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. He wore his dark hair short, almost a crew cut, which accentuated his ample forehead and blunt nose. His grip was so strong that it took two people to pry Jon off of the boy. One neighbour said she always let him into her home whenever his mother was out. Her husband came back to Walton now and again to see his mother, but he never came to see the boys. She also had to stay strong for the remaining children. Ironically, the relationship between mother and son improved when he, was behind bars. 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. 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. He would go to bed. The pattern of bullying among the brothers, which had been noted by the Head mistress of the boys school, appeared to descend down the line, with the eldest Thompson brother beating the one just below him in age, and that brother beating the brother below him, in turn. "I think my son's concentration wasn't the way it should have been, but he wasn't slow. I couldnt make any sense of it, Robert later recalled, desolately, when asked about his fathers unexpected departure. 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. Self pity? 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. The government will be required to respond within 14 days if as the petition achieves more than 100,000 signatures. The Liverpool Echo boasted that their man had one of 'just 34 seats' allocated to the international press. 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. At night, for instance, the two boys would lie in bed together and suck each others thumbs. 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. Ian was clever enough to know that to survive he had to get out. 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. Mr Venables said that the two boys had played truant together four times before, adding that he caught them twice. He gets upset. What's the least amount of exercise we can get away with? Then, one Friday in February, they discovered a new rule to break: they murdered a two-year-old. Some of the red brick houses were well-kept, others had torn net curtains and grubby windows. A day later, when James still hadnt been found, it was clear from CCTV footage that he had been taken by children. wo. xf fy. CCTV images revealed how James had been lured away by Thompson and Venables, who was also aged 10. 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. Neil explained to him that the school they attended was special, and that Jon wouldnt be accepted. Are they mad? His mind was too restless to take up other hobbies for long. Jon, who had the most trouble sleeping, appeared fearful of Susan, and was terrified, above all, of her condemnation. Left to his own devices Jon liked to spend his playtime in fairly sedentary ways. .". 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. Unemployment levels were more than twice the national average in Walton. He has had more love and attention than a lot of children I know. However, you will find some great articles which you can comment on right now in our Comment section. 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. By now the two boys from Walton were part of an international freak show. 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. The atmosphere in the courtroom was oppressive as the tension of a month was about to break. It emerged that the Venables family had suffered the same fate in another area. 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. Without anyone in the family to turn to for support, he had to look outside for people whose swaggering aggression he could emulate. Thousands of members of Unison, Unite and the GMB unions are set to walk out across England and Wales on Monday as part of continued industrial action in the health service, Performers taking part in a parade involving costumes, lion dances and floats, during Chinese New Year celebrations in London, Everton fans hold up banners protesting against the board of directors during their Premier League match against West Ham at the London Stadium, A pair of swans fly over a frozen pond in Bushy Park in London, People take part in a demonstration in support of trans rights outside the UK Government Office in Edinburgh, A member of the Royal College of Nursing holds their dog whilst on the picket line outside Kings College Hospital in London, as nurses take industrial action over pay, The scene on the A39 Quantock Road in Bridgwater after a double-decker bus overturned in a crash involving a motorcycle, A man walks dogs in snowy conditions in a park in Hexham.
Splash Potion Of Blindness Command, Klocke Estate Distillery, Winter Club Lake Forest Membership Fees, Articles S