The Sleep of Reason: The James Bulger Case

by David James Smith

  They went to County Road then, and Bobby stole the paint and the borders from Fads. Jon goes into great detail about what they did with the paint and the borders, and is supplied with a sheet of paper on which to draw the size of the tin of paint. He says it was bigger than the little tin that was found at the railway. It was Crown paint, and it was thrown round the back of the chip shop by Olney Street.

  The officers allow Jon to continue with this for a while, and George Scott says Jon’s given them a good story for that day. Now does Jon remember last night when he told them the story of where he’d been and they found out it was a lie because Robert had said they’d been at the Strand. Yeah, Jon remembers.

  Scott says, well, Robert’s told a different story about being at the Strand. What does Jon think he said. Jon doesn’t know. What does Jon think he might have said about what they did at the Strand. Robbed. Something different… not just robbed. Jon doesn’t know. He doesn’t know what else. Scott says Robert said that the two of them were in the Strand and saw the little boy.

  Jon is immediately anxious. We never, we never. Susan says is that the God’s honest truth? God’s honest truth, I’m telling you, we never, he was too scared, he was probably too scared.

  Robert said that you took him by the hand and led him out of the Strand shops. We never. No, not we, Robert is saying that you took him by the hand. I never. Not Robert, you did it. I never. Well, why would Robert say that about you? He’s a liar.

  Jon is beside himself with distress, out of his chair, going to his mother, who tries to pacify him. It’s all right, come on, all right, all right love, you tell them the truth and you never, did you. Lawrence Lee is asked to monitor the situation. Jon is crying uncontrollably. I never took him by the hand, I never even touched the baby. All right, I believe you, says Susan.

  George Scott then tells Jon that the fingerprints he had taken yesterday match the fingerprints at the Bradford & Bingley. Jon says, yeah, he did go in there. He thought before they meant the Halifax. Jon describes what they did in the building society and says they then went to the Strand. He’s crying again. I never touched a baby. I know, says Susan.

  They tell Jon not to get upset. They’re only asking about the building society. Scott says the man in there remembers seeing them again outside, and that they asked for money. Is that right. Tell the truth, says Susan, did you ask for money? Jon says it wasn’t him, it was Robert. I never took the baby, mum.

  Lawrence Lee asks Jon if he’s all right to carry on. Yeah. If he wants to stop at any time just say so. Scott says he must tell the truth, because he keeps telling them stories. I never got the boy.

  Scott. Well, well, if you never got the boy tell us what happened, was it Robert? You’re nodding your head.

  Jon. Yeah, he left him in, he left him in the road.

  Scott. Right, well, let’s go back to, into the Strand.

  Jon. No, I never touched a boy, mum, I never.

  Susan. Okay.

  Scott. All right.

  Jon. I haven’t touched a boy.

  (Jon becomes hysterical, and cannot be consoled. It is a terrible distress.)

  Dale. Hold on, come here son, all right, come on.

  Susan. Oh God, no.

  Dale. Settle yourself down.

  Jon. I never touched him.

  Dale. Sit down, go to your mum.

  Susan. All right, all right, you’re going to get me crying now, look.

  Jon. I never, mum.

  Susan. I know you wouldn’t, you wouldn’t do that to a boy would you?

  Jon. Robert’s getting me into trouble.

  Jon continues to sob, and Susan says that he had been warned, about Robert. George Scott says he’s going to have to tell them what happened, and he’s not going to have to cry. He’s going to have to be a big boy. Don’t be telling lies.

  I never touched a boy. Well, tell us what happened then, but remember don’t be telling lies now, ’cos we keep finding you out, don’t we. Well, I never touched, I never. Are you all right to carry on? Lawrence Lee asks. No,

  I never touched him. Susan says, calm down first. I can’t. I never touched him.

  Scott. All right, well, you tell us what happened then.

  Jon. We just went home, and I went, I left Robert on his own till he came back to Walton Village.

  Susan. Tell me the truth now Jon, please.

  Jon. I never killed him mum, mum, we took him and left him at the canal mum, that’s all.

  Scott. You left him at the canal by the Strand?

  Jon. Yeah.

  Well, where did you find the boy in the Strand? I don’t know, he was just walking around on his own. Is this little James is it? No, he had brown hair. He had brown hair? This other lad. So which other lad’s that? I don’t know, this, really, there was only one lad. How old did he look? Two, I don’t know. About two? I never killed him, mum. I believe you.

  Jon begins sobbing again, and gets out of his chair, knocking over a can of drink on the table. Lee again asks if he wants to carry on, and Jon says, yeah, but I never killed him. Dale says they don’t have to ask him anything, he can just sit there and be quiet and get himself back together. Jon says, I left him in the Strand. Susan says, you left him in the Strand? Yes. Who with? Nobody. Whereabouts in the Strand? In, just, no we left him in TJ Hughes, this boy with brown hair, and his mum got him. Oh, says Susan. Is that James? Jon asks.

  Well, no, says Dale.

  The officers ask Jon about the boy, and he says they found him in TJ Hughes. Robert probably thinks he was James. Scott says, well, let’s get this straight, you left him at the canal, and then we’ve left him at TJ Hughes. Jon says, that was made up, at the canal. Susan says perhaps that’s because of the news.

  Jon says they were with this boy trying to find his mum, and were walking with him until his mum got him. They discuss where Jon and Robert took the boy, and Jon says his mum got him when they were by the carts by TJ Hughes. Jon says he spoke to the mum, and fumbles for the words he said to her. I’m trying to get you to, I’m just trying to, I said to her I was trying to get him to get to go, I was… Susan helps him out, saying, I was looking for you so he could get to you. Yeah.

  Then Jon says he came out of the Strand on his own, without Robert. Hang on, says Scott, we’ve got two stories here. Susan says, don’t get yourself confused, think, and Jon begins crying again, I never killed him, mum. No one’s saying that, says Susan, and Lawrence Lee says it too. Jon cries and cries. Wailing. Susan says, he’s frightened. Jon says, you’re going to put me in jail.

  They decide to stop the interview. I wouldn’t hurt a baby, says Jon. I mean, I know you wouldn’t hurt a baby either, says Susan.

  Michelle Bennett calls Jim Fitzsimmons as soon as the interview is finished. After listening, she and Dave Tanner feel that Jon is frightened of telling the truth, because he doesn’t want to upset his mother. They think that if they can talk to Susan they might be able to resolve the problem. Jim says they should go ahead. They take Susan to one side for a quiet chat.

  21

  Phil Roberts had only started again yesterday, but his cigarette intake was soaring rapidly. Already it looked like being a two-pack day. They were hard work, these interviews.

  Like Michelle Bennett, Phil Roberts had interviewed in several child abuse cases. Kids were much more difficult to deal with than adults. Their imagination was brilliant and they were the best liars in the world. You only had to think back to your own childhood, to the things you’d got away with.

  Roberts thought Bobby was a crafty little lad, but his shuffling feet were a giveaway, and the false crying, the crying without tears, was transparent.

  From the beginning, Roberts had tried to develop a rapport with Bobby. Close up in the chair, bent forward, trying to provoke a smile with the odd light remark, touching Bobby on the knee occasionally… it was totally false but it created the right mood.

  There was no room now to think about James Bulger, or react in horror to Bob
by’s disclosures. That, you could never do. What was required now was tunnel vision, thinking down a straight line, to the truth of what had happened.

  It was now two fifteen, and Bobby’s sixth interview began with his suggestion that Jon might have taken the batteries for his Game Gear. He might have taken them and they fell out of his pocket. What, on the railway line? Wherever you found them. Well, the batteries were scattered, they weren’t found together. It was unlikely that they had fallen from Jon’s pocket.

  Phil Roberts says that, just like the paint, he thinks Bobby knows more about the batteries. Bobby fences. Okay, then I’ll say that he took them. No, no, they don’t want that. They want the truth.

  Bobby repeats his story that he ran off from the railway after the paint was thrown. He will not be budged from this. The officers say that if baby James was bleeding and his blood is found on Jon or Bobby’s clothes then it means they were there when baby James was bleeding. Bobby asks how they know it’s baby James’s blood. Jacobs says they know what baby James’s blood is because they've got the body. Where? Well, it doesn’t matter where, Bobby. It’s probably been to the hospital first. What for? To take blood out of his arm like they’ve done to yours. They’ve taken him to try and get him alive again? No, says Ann. Bobby says, yeah, well, I was told he got chopped in half. Well, he couldn’t come alive again, could he, if he’s got chopped in half?

  Bobby says the blood might have been his because he was bleeding from a cut. He demonstrates how he scratched the cut on his face. Jacobs says he couldn’t do that with his shoe, and the blood’s been found on his shoe. Bobby begins crying. I never murdered him. Youse are just trying to say that I murdered him. What happened that afternoon? Come on, Bobby.

  We left him there. Why aren’t you doing it to Jon? Jon has got the same. Ask Jon, I never touched him. We will be asking Jon. How can you be asking Jon if you’re here?

  Jacobs goes through the sequence of events Bobby has described to them. Jon held his hand, Jon took him from the Strand, Jon took him up to the reservoir, threw the hood into the tree, threw the paint. Now, says Jacobs, they don’t know, it might be Jon that’s done all this stuff. Yeah, well, why would I want to hurt a little boy? Well, we don’t know.

  Bobby is crying again. He says Jon might have kicked James in sly. How? He doesn’t know. They go back over the story again, pointing out that Bobby had at first denied things and then admitted them. Roberts says he was right about those things, and he’s right about this as well. Yeah, well, I never killed him. Who did then? Well, not me.

  Bobby is sobbing now. They ask if he wants to stop.

  Ann. It will be all over in a few minutes if you just tell them the truth.

  Bobby. Jon threw a brick in his face.

  Ann. Why?

  Bobby. I don’t know.

  Roberts. Right, try and stop. Right let’s, we’ve got, we’re getting there aren’t we. We’re getting to the truth now.

  Bobby. Yeah, well, I’m going to end up getting all the blame ’cos I’ve got blood on me.

  Bobby repeats that Jon threw the brick. James just fell on the floor. Then Bobby left the railway, he got down the lamp-post at the edge by the big white house. They got down the lamp-post. He is asked again, and repeats the story. Roberts says something else happened. Bobby says Jon was on the railway and he was down the lamp-post. Ann asks what the baby was doing. Bobby says he was on the floor crying. Awake or asleep? What do you mean? Was he like asleep, or… He was awake.

  Roberts asks Bobby why he didn’t try to stop Jon. Bobby did. He tried to pull Jon back, but he just threw it. He was standing right in front of James, with Bobby just behind him. When the brick hit James his face started bleeding. He wasn’t screaming, he was crying. He fell onto the floor and blood was just pouring everywhere. Bobby demonstrates how James fell to his knees, and fell face forward. He was fully clothed.

  Ann has begun crying, and Phil Roberts suggests a break from the interview. He says Bobby hasn’t told them the full truth, he’s blaming everything on Jon. I’m not. You are. ’Cos I took things to eat. We’re not bothered about stealing Bobby, we never have been. You know that. We want the whole truth.

  They press Bobby, who insists that he has told the truth. He never touched the baby. He went down the lamp-post.

  Bobby begins crying. I never touched him. I never touched him. That’s all I seen. No it isn’t. It is. We already know about things that happened and it doesn’t explain a lot of things. And were you there like, and seen me? No. Well, that’s what youse are trying to say.

  The officers try to explain the basics of post-mortem examinations to Bobby. A clever man, a pathologist, looks at every part of the body and can see where it’s been hurt. Bobby says why would I take flowers over to the baby if I killed him. I know the truth, says Roberts. So do I, says Bobby, I was there, you weren’t. He begins crying again. Yeah, well, it’s all our family, it’s always our family that gets the blame. Your family might have been blamed in the past… but on this occasion we’re right though, aren’t we? No, ’cos I never touched him.

  Jacobs. Well, tell us what happened, then.

  Bobby. He threw another brick.

  Jacobs. And where did that hit him?

  Bobby, (pointing to his body) On there.

  Jacobs. On the chest?

  Bobby. On the belly.

  Jacobs. What kind of brick was that?

  Bobby. A half one.

  Jacobs. And what happened then?

  Bobby. And then he hit him again.

  Jacobs. What with?

  Bobby. There was like a big metal thing that had holes in.

  Jacobs. A big metal thing with holes in, where was that?

  Bobby. When it hit him?

  Jacobs. Ho, where was it, where did he pick it up from?

  Bobby Off the… you know, where the railway track’s like that.

  Jacobs. Yeah.

  Bobby. In the middle of them.

  Where did he hit him with that? In the head. Now which part of the head? Up there. On the top of the head, what did that do to him, to James? Knocked him out. Did it? What happened then? And then he hit him again.

  The buzzer sounds.

  What with? A stick, and then he threw that. A stick? And you threw that? No, he threw it. Where did he throw it? You know, the nettles. Yeah. By where he’s found. Yeah. He threw them into there. Where, where did he hit him with the stick? In the face. In the face, whereabout in the face? I don’t know where, he just went like that and hit him. The tape finishes, the interview ends.

  They change the tape in two minutes, go through the caution again, and continue. Ann is crying. It’s three o’clock.

  Bobby says the stick was a little branch off a tree, lying on the floor. James was knocked out. He wasn’t moving. His eyes were open. Might he have been dead? Bobby doesn’t know. They went then, and left him there. He thinks James was lying on his back, over the railway track.

  The batteries? Jon might’ve took them for his Game Gear. Did he have some batteries with him? Who? Jon. Yeah, he took them out and threw them. He threw one at James’s face and threw the others away.

  The officers go over the sequence of events again. Bobby describes how Jon threw the metal bar on to the top of James’s head. And then they went. They went to the video shop. Bobby tried to see if the baby was still alive, and he wouldn’t move. He was trying to see if he could still breathe. I’ve got me ear against his belly and he wasn’t breathing.

  Roberts. And you didn’t say anything to Jon?

  Bobby. Who?

  Roberts. You.

  Bobby. No, only in the video shop I did.

  Roberts. WTiat did you say to him in the…

  Bobby. I asked him, is he coming up, to do the message.

  Roberts. Is that when you spoke to him?

  Bobby. Yeah.

  Jacobs. Wiry did, why did he do all this, why did Jon do all this?

  Bobby. I don’t know. That is what I don’t know.
>
  Roberts. You say you didn’t do anything at all?

  Bobby. I only pinched.

  They again say they’re not bothered about Bobby stealing. He says it’s on the tape, it’ll get brought up another day. No, it doesn’t matter.

  Phil Roberts says he doesn’t think Jon’s done everything. Bobby says yeah, well, I never. Roberts thinks Bobby hit him. Well, that’s what you think. Roberts says there’s only one person here that knows the whole truth. No I’ve just said all the truth, says Bobby.

  They finish the seventh interview at ten past three.

  Ann is in shock now, disturbed and terrified by what is happening. She says she cannot sit in on any further interviews. She barely knows what’s going on around her. Later that day, she is in the bridewell when a uniformed officer passes through. Ann hears him whistling the death march. It might be a deliberate wind-up, it might not. She mentions it to Jason Lee, who mentions it to the interviewing team. The whistler does not reappear.

  Bobby seems more concerned about his mum’s welfare than anything else. He asks the policeman, excuse me, can you get me mum a glass of water so she can have a Beecham’s Powder? Excuse me, can me mum have a cup of coffee? Can you get me mum a doctor ’cause she’s not well? There was talk of getting a psychiatrist to see Ann. She said it wasn’t her that needed a shrink, it was Bobby and Jon. She just couldn’t take it all in.

  Later, when she regained her senses, she asked Bobby, why the fuckin’ hell didn’t you do something, why didn’t you go and tell someone? How could you stand there and… ? Bobby said, but I tried to get him off, he just kept hittin’ him and hittin’ him and hittin’ him and I couldn’t do nuttin’ about it.

  Ann said, well how could you take a bloody flower over? Bobby said, ’cause then baby James knows I tried to help him up there and I’m thinking of him now.

  Bobby asks his mum, if you die before me dad, will you come back and haunt him? Too friggin’ right I will, said Ann, I’ll bleedin’ haunt him every day. Bobby said, yeah, but that’s because he’s hurt you, but if he hadn’t’ve hurt you and you died, you wouldn’t come back and haunt him then, would you? Ann said, well, no, I’d have no cause to, would I? She thought it was a funny question for Bobby to ask.