Robert Thompson And Jon Venables

Robert Thompson and Jon Venables abducted 2-year-old James Bulger in Bootle, England, on February 12, 1993. They tortured and murdered him before placing his body on train tracks.

Robert Thompson and Jon Venables appeared to be two ordinary 10-year-olds at first glance. However, in 1993, these two British boys turned cold-blooded killers, murdering a toddler. Their youth, combined with the brutality of their crime, shocked the entire country.

On February 12, 1993, Robert Thompson and Jon Venables kidnapped James Bulger, a 2-year-old boy from the New Strand Shopping Centre in Bootle, England. They then led him to Walton in Liverpool, where they tortured him, beat him to death, and dumped his body on a railway track to make his murder appear accidental.

Though authorities initially believed Bulger had been kidnapped by an adult, CCTV footage revealed the shocking truth: he had been kidnapped by two children. Bulger was discovered a few days later on the same railway track where his killers had left him. A train had ripped his body in half.

Soon after, an anonymous caller informed police that Thompson and Venables were responsible for the murder, revealing that both boys had been absent from school on the day of Bulger’s disappearance and that criminal evidence may have been found on Venables’ jacket. Both boys were quickly arrested, and it didn’t take them long to turn on each other.

Britain was shocked by the 10-year-old killers’ crimes. Despite the passage of nearly three decades, the story of Robert Thompson and Jon Venables remains shocking to this day. However, their story did not end in 1993.

How James Bulger Was Kidnapped and Murdered by Robert Thompson and Jon Venables

Jon Venables and Robert Thompson both had difficult formative years. On August 23, 1982, Thompson, the fifth of seven children, was born in Liverpool, England. His mother became depressed and even tried to commit suicide as a result of his father’s early abandonment of the family.

Venables was also born in Liverpool on August 13, 1982, just a few days before Thompson. Thompson’s parents divorced, as did Venables’ parents. Although Venables’ father was still present, the boy was reportedly treated “harshly” by his mother. She was also charged with being a “loose” woman who frequently appeared with multiple men.

On February 12, 1993, Thompson and Venables skipped school together because they were close friends. Despite their reputation for breaking the law, they mainly engaged in low-level crime like stealing small items from shops and throwing them down mall escalators.

But on that terrible day, the two boys would kidnap and murder a child, upping the heinousness of their crimes. Surprisingly, James Bulger wasn’t the only young person they were after that day. A three-year-old girl and her two-year-old brother were the targets of their initial attempt to entice them away from their mother. Despite their failure, Thompson and Venables persevered.

They seized Bulger after spotting him in a butcher shop. Denise Fergus, Bulger’s mother, had been holding his hand, but she had momentarily released it to pay for groceries. She then looked down in horror to find that her son had vanished. Later, Fergus admitted, “I shouldn’t have let go of his hand.” “That was the biggest error I’ve ever made. I ought not to have let go.

At 3:42 p.m., surveillance cameras captured the three kids strolling outside. By then, Fergus had already notified mall security, who informed patrons of the missing child in a number of announcements. But by 4:15 p.m., the boy was nowhere to be found, and the police were informed right away that he was missing. Ralph Bulger, who was then Denise Fergus’ husband, and she were extremely anxious.

Robert Thompson and Jon Venables, meanwhile, led the young child away from the mall and toward a different town. Despite the fact that many on the street thought the three boys were related, others were worried about Thompson and Venables’ hostile actions toward Bulger.

Later, some witnesses claimed that the older boys had roughed up Bulger in broad daylight by punching, shaking, and kicking him. While some adults questioned the kids briefly, they all appeared to think that Bulger was either being taken home or to the police station and allowed the boys to continue on their way. Later, many of them would regret not taking action.

In Walton, Thompson and Venables eventually arrived close to a railroad track. They doused Bulger with stolen blue paint there, staining his eyes. After that, they kicked his battered body and bludgeoned him with bricks and stones before stuffing batteries into his mouth. Finally, they used a 22-pound iron bar to strike Bulger in the head. Just that one blow broke 10 skulls.

Bulger had endured a total of 42 horrific injuries by the time he passed away. The young child’s final, heartbreaking words were, “I want my mom.”

Thompson and Venables killed Bulger and then disposed of his body on the railroad track to make it appear as though it had been an accident. Even though a train arrived and split Bulger’s body in half, it was clear that his death was not a tragic accident. Two days later, a group of horrified teenage boys who were playing nearby discovered his body.

How The Killers were Caught?

Even though James Bulger’s kidnapping was caught on camera, police had few suspect leads. Additionally, they got off track because they believed the kidnappers might have been 13 or 14 years old.

However, as they looked through the lists of students who had missed school that day from nearby schools, they soon got a call from an unknown number accusing Venables and Thompson of the crime. On top of the fact that both boys had skipped school that day, Venables was also spotted with blue paint on his jacket (the same color that had been used to blind Bulger during his torture).

The police soon went to the homes of both boys. They discovered blood on Thompson’s shoes in addition to blue paint on Venables’ jacket.

Less than a week after the murder, on February 18, 1993, Robert Thompson and Jon Venables were taken into custody. Thompson initially denied everything. But Venables made his admission quickly. Venables quickly exclaimed, “I did kill him. Would you please apologize to his mother? ”

Despite his best efforts, Thompson managed to implicate himself during the course of his conversation with the interrogators when he provided a detailed description of James Bulger’s attire on the day of the murder.

Detective Phil Roberts stated after questioning Thompson and Venables, “As far as I’m concerned that day… I stared evil in the face.”

They were a match made in hell, said Roberts. a natural freak. I genuinely think they went out that day with the intent to kill. And I worry that they would have struck again if they hadn’t been apprehended.

Roberts, and he wasn’t the only one, thought Thompson was “in charge” even though both boys had killed Bulger. In the murder trial that took place in November 1993, Venables was portrayed as the follower and Thompson as the leader. This was largely because Venables came across as being more emotional while Thompson frequently had a chilling air of indifference.

Both Thompson and Venables, according to court-appointed psychiatrists, understood the difference between right and wrong. Additionally, they claimed that neither boy was a sociopath. The psychiatrists searched for a reason for this terrible crime, but they were unable to do so. The reason is still unknown to this day.

Robert Thompson and Jon Venables were the youngest murderers ever convicted in modern British history when they were found guilty on November 24, 1993, of kidnapping and killing James Bulger. When the boys turned 18, they were instructed to be detained until a review.

Robert Thompson and Jon Venables are currently where?

Venables served his sentence in the Red Bank secure facility in St. Helens, Merseyside, from 1993 to 2001. He allegedly informed his fellow prisoners that he was a car thief while he was there. Thompson was imprisoned at Barton Moss, a school close to Manchester, where he developed an interest in things like theatre and art.

In June 2001, Venables and Thompson were both released at the age of 18. They were both given new names as a result of the national outcry surrounding their case. The two men have followed very different paths since that time.

Although Thompson was thought to be the mastermind behind the James Bulger murder scheme, he has never committed another crime since his release. His current whereabouts are unknown, but he is reportedly in a committed relationship with a man who is aware of his past.

Regarding Venables, he has been imprisoned once more on numerous occasions, most notably for having child pornography and a “paedophile manual” that included sickeningly detailed instructions on how to abuse young girls.

Venables was initially detained in 2010 for having pictures of child abuse, but he was freed in 2013. In 2017, he was detained once more for the same offence. And in 2018, after confessing to having more than 1,000 images of child abuse and the paedophile manual, he was given a 40-month sentence.

In September 2020, Venables most recently received a parole denial. After that, he was informed that he would have to wait two more years to be considered for parole. But according to some sources, Venables does not want to be released because he is afraid he will commit crimes again and because he can’t stop using drugs.

Ralph Bulger, the father of James Bulger, believes that if Venables were released right now, he might commit a murder once more. Ralph Bulger reacted angrily to the parole board’s ruling, saying, “I think the only way to stop him from killing another baby like James is to keep him locked up for life.” “How can anyone claim that it is safe for this monster to repopulate our society? ”