Neighbors later reported that it wasnt uncommon for Robert to be seen wandering the streets of Walton after midnight, since he was always running off at night. A sudden pause in the tapes and one of the officers appeared in person to describe how he asked Neil and Susan Venables to leave the room because he thought Jon wanted to tell him something. Her family were dignified throughout, but on that day one of theBulgerfamily supporters allowed themselvesa loud 'YES' as the verdicts came in. Another time they were saucy and asked a sales girl if she stocked 'fishy nickers'. The two had an aberrant relationship with one another, in the sense that it was almost as though they had never divorced. . It is just heartbreaking.". I just think of James and his Dad and about all that fun with his little boy, like I had with Jon.". Trauma? He caused me such anxiety, the teacher later recalled of Jon in a statement given to the Merseyside police. 2023 BBC. Ultimately, wanting to escape the havoc, most of the boys opted to leave home, and some were placed into voluntary care at Dysons Hall, a childrens home just outside of Liverpool. Other parents came in to complain about attention seeking. Lawyers for the pair argued that the adult court venue and publicity made it impossible for the schoolboys to be given a fair trial. Ann denied the physical abuse, but later admitted to being cruel to the boys at times. That seems the very least they could face for what they did. Grainy CCTV footage shows them walking James away from the Strand . The breaking point came when Jon was suspended from Broad Square after attempting to choke a classmate with a twelve-inch wooden ruler. He said he was frightened of Robert's older brother. In all, they played truant four times. 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. They did. Both of them struggled at school and had been lumped into the year below their age. A pathologist later said that there were so many injuries - 42 in total - that not one could be isolated as causing the little boy's fatal wound. 'I thought he was all right,' said Boy B, as he was known in court - Jon Venables. Thompson & Venebales. Once Robert shared with him a tin of Roses chocolates which he had poured surreptitiously into his coat pocket. 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. March 10, 2021 - 20:29 GMT Eve Crosbie. "It was very dark and I shouted down, shouted his name. Robert Thompson and Jon Venables, both 10, murdered him in cold blood. . The family was put up in a hostel temporarily and later relocated by the social services. JON Venables's family was far from affluent, but it was not as close to the breadline as Robert's. 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. They probably weren't out to kill someone, but they were probably out to ruin someone else's happiness. I have cried for JamesBulgermany times, so God only knows the tears his parents and family have shed. kl. He would throw things at other children, cut himself deliberately with scissors and stick paper all over his face. 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. Only two people can answer the question, and even their ability is doubtful. 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. The phone-in programme, as ever, was a place to turn to try to find reasons - evil, poverty, neglect, possessed anything to explain what felt inexplicable. 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'. Susan and neil venables. It was their sons picked up by detectives. Neil explained to him that the school they attended was special, and that Jon wouldnt be accepted. so they were put in a lower year. Everton was his team. Online Marketing For Your Business Robert was number five of seven. Jon was also mad on computers. The Radio Merseyside newsroom, where I was working at the time, was full and everyone was on this story one way or another. He was fearful of the other boy. By then, Robert and Jon had abducted James Bulger from the Strand and attempted to drown him in the nearby canal. 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. Not really?. Apart from Jon's incident with the ruler, there had been no record of previous violence. Denise Fergus remains convinced both will always be a danger to children. I'm warning yer,' she would say. James' mother Denise believes they should have remained in jail for life and has tirelessly campaigned against their rights to anonymity. 'It was very dark and I shouted down, shouted his name. See that cell. 'I didn't know it would be like this,' Mr Venables said with hindsight. Following the arrest of their sons it was reported that the mothers of the boys had been attacked and vilified in. He is far from it. One police officer described how Jon Venables was so small, his legs were swinging. 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. "On the other hand, you are looking at him and you are saying 'Well, I know why - because he is so weak'. rk ye. They have never come out of hiding. Twenty-five years on, Im still prone to hot tears at the memory of it all and I do question the trial. He had been stripped from the waist down,. He has never really been what you would call a sagger off school (a truant). 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. Both parents hope was that he would make something of his life and eventually find some peace. It was when Jon turned seven that Susan and the children had relocated to Norris Green, one of Liverpools larger, more reputable areas. 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. Lock him in it.'. yet, as Venables is back behind bars. Jon's parents said they talked to their son about James after he was arrested, but had to stop. They played truant, they pinched sweets, they terrorised old ladies. ", 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.". He denied having had any films that were not mainstream, or that were pornographic, in the house. To be absolutely accurate, she had only one illusion. gk. "All he said when we've said 'Why didn't you run away?' Southern. Nicola had to exchange some clothes at TJ Hughes, Denise waited nearby, watching the children. 'I don't know,' he replied. Whatever problems she had in her own life, she was always there. It would be a week before we heard their voices, in hours of taped police interviews, They stopped us all in our tracks. 'His mum was more strict. The base of the dock floor at Preston Crown Court had to be raised 18 inches so each boy could see over it. "In terms of knowing what the full consequences of your actions are, you are into older childhood or adolescence. He has had his holidays like everyone else. He always had plenty of friends. Look at mine. 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. 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. Last November he was arrested and recalled to jail on suspicion of possession of images of child sex abuse. Mrs Venables has also said that she felt heartbreak for James and his parents and shame for her son. 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. He is broken- hearted over it. Naturaleza. The primary concern among the faculty was Roberts growing amount of absences. See today's front and back pages, download the newspaper, order back issues and use the historic Daily Express newspaper archive. This time, curiosity took the upper hand: 'I wanted to see what it was like,' he said. They would hang around the video shop in Walton Village where the shop girl was pleased to have their company. He carried books on wrestling and wildlife in his school bag. She remained very frightened and felt that she and her son were the most hated people in the country. They had to report him missing at the security office before he was found, and Jon's mother was very angry. Robert had asked once before but Jon, who had rarely truanted in his previous school, was scared and said no. "An awful mistake for 10 year olds is shoplifting not murdering a 2 year old FFS," another angry viewer tweeted. This would have been at about 5.30pm - just the time the boys were about to begin killing Jamie. Ann and Bobby fought regularly in front of the children, with virtually all of the fights leading to physical violence. 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. 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. Who were their parents? He didn't want to hurt James. So he came home. Our feelings haven't changed towards him. 'You'd better tell the truth. Will you tell his mum I'm sorry?". Born on August 13th, 1982, Jon was the middle child of Neil and Susan Venables. 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. When she turned around moments later, her son was gone. Walton Village Financial Services would lend you pounds 300 for Christmas and demand a total of pounds 460 in repayment. But he liked collecting trolls, little doll-like creatures with ugly faces and spiky fluorescent hair. From the start, Jon was drawn and repulsed by Robbie like opposite and equal poles of a magnet. Look at mine. Money, or his family's lack of it, preyed on his mind. 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. "My heart really goes out to them. Their kids have got everything. His mother gave him pocket money to buy them. ', They sagged off in the afternoon and walked around the shops in County Road, near Walton. Channel 5 is set to air a new two-part documentary that tells the definitive story of . 'He always seemed perfectly well behaved and I think he looked on me as some kind of grandma. He was fearful, he was weak and he was provoked," she said. It is not known whether the boy watched any of his father's adult movies. He wore his dark hair short, almost a crew cut, which accentuated his ample forehead and blunt nose. si fs. Their parents entered the courtroom; The Venables arrived together, Ann Thompson came with supporters but no sign of Robert's father. 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. cl gz. 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. She said an educational psychologist had diagnosed hyperactivity in her son, who was bullied at his previous school. "He fell over," was the response. 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. Egypt. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Sometimes Robert would sag off on his own, but it was more fun with a friend. The boys lived off chips. I came back and then (Mrs Venables) went out. Facebook gives people the power. Ann Thompson and Susan and Neil Venables didn't need to imagine.

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