by Ray Black
Jon and Robert left the Bootle Strand and walked up Stanley Road, virtually dragging the small boy between them. As soon as James realized he was being taken away from his mother he had started crying and making a fuss. As soon as he started to whine for his mummy and tried to stop walking, the older boys would force him to go on by punching, kicking and shaking him until he could nothing but cooperate. For nearly 90 minutes Jon and Robert wandered around town with James Bulger, covering more than a two mile radius. During those 90 minutes they took James into a couple of stores, including a pet shop and a bakery. They pulled him down a grassy slope to a canal under a bridge. It was here that they first hurt James Bulger by dangling him upside down and then dropping him on his head. After a few minutes into that particular torture game, the boys decided to stop as it wasn’t quite dark yet and they knew someone could easily peer down the hill and discover them hurting the little boy.
It was at this point that Jon and Robert turned away from the little boy, leaving him alone and crying by the side of the canal. A woman saw James and assumed he was with some other children who were nearby. But whatever was going on inside of Jon and Robert’s heads they turned around and walked back towards the toddler. ‘Come on, baby,’ they called. Jon picked up the bruised and whimpering James in his arms, following Robert up the bank. They got to the top of the hill, adjusted the toddler’s coat and scarf to cover as much of his swollen face as possible, then wandered around the town some more until it became dark. Again they were seen by quite a few people during this period. They must have seen that the child had a tear-streaked face, and a cut on his forehead, but although it made several people very uneasy, it appeared no one really knew what to do. Possibly if James had cried out for his mother or if the older boys had acted cruelly, then perhaps someone would have come forward to rescue the hapless child.
At around 5.30 p.m., when the boys felt it was finally dark enough, they took James to one of their favourite play areas – some railway tracks. It was here that they knocked the toddler to the ground and jumped on his belly and chest. Jon opened a jar of bright blue paint he had stolen earlier from the shopping centre and splashed it across the baby’s face. Robert removed James’s shoes and underpants, and then callously inserted the stolen batteries into his rectum. One of the boys found a two-foot long heavy iron pipe which they used to hit him around the head, also hurling bricks and stones at his tiny body.
When the frenzy of their assault was over, Jon took hold of James by his legs while Robert carried the torso. They carried him directly over the railway tracks and laid him down so that that his upper half was off the tracks, while his naked legs were on them. They left before the train arrived.
AFTER THE EVENT
After their assault on James Bulger, the boys walked back into town as if nothing untoward had happened. They called on a friend who wasn’t at home, but then hung around in front of his house waiting for him to come back. Bored with waiting, they wandered over to the video store, which was one of Robert’s favourite places. It was here that Susan Venables, Jon’s mother, swung through the doors in a furious rage. Susan told him that a little boy had been kidnapped from the shopping centre and that she was out of her mind with worry that they may have taken her son, Jon.
Meanwhile, Robert had run home in tears telling his mother, Ann, that Jon Venables’ mother had hit him while they were in the video store. Robert’s mother immediately reported the beating to the police. At the police station, the officer noticed a small scratch underneath Robert’s left eye, but assumed it was from the attack by Susan Venables.
While all this was going on other detectives were studying the security camera footage of James Bulger’s kidnapping. Expecting the abductor to be an adult – possibly a paedophile – they were stunned when the tape showed two little boys, not that much bigger than Bulger himself, making off with the little boy.
The video, which was taken from a camera just above the shopping centre’s main exit, was copied and handed out to local news stations for their broadcast the following day. The fuzzy, almost ghost-like footage showed the backs of three boys leaving the centre, but not their faces. All you could make out about the kidnappers’ appearances was that the boy holding James’ hand had a mustard-coloured coat, while the one walking in front of them was rather plump with a shaved head. There was no way to identify the two older boys, but the baby’s clothing matched Denise’s description of what James had been wearing. They played the tape over and over again, watching in horror as James was led towards the exit. It just seemed totally incomprehensible, the police could understand the motives of a paedophile, but why would two young children take another child?
The next morning underwater divers grimly searched the bottom of the canal, while others organized search parties on the land. Less than 24 hours after Denise had lost her son, his body was discovered by four teenage boys who were messing around on the railway tracks. At first glance, they mistook the body for a doll, but on taking a closer look they realized that it wasn’t a doll at all, but half of a mutilated toddler. The four boys found the upper body first, still clothed in the blue anorak and white scarf. A train had been by that morning and severed the baby at the waist, just as his two killers had planned. When the train struck, James’ torso went flying off the tracks, while his naked lower limbs stayed in place.
The police stopped all approaching trains, roped off the tracks and shielded the scene from onlookers and reporters. The child’s clothing, which had been removed from the waist down, was laid near his head. His underwear was heavily soaked in blood. Near the scene of the crime the police found a bloodstained heavy iron bar, about two foot long, and many bricks and stones also stained with blood. They also found three AAA batteries, and a tin of blue paint.
Even the most experienced investigators were sickened at the extent and voracity of the toddler’s injuries, and decided they would withhold any details of the murder from the public and press.
Denise Bulger, who had been at the police station since her son’s disappearance, sensed that something was going on. Suddenly the office had become very busy, and when she heard that they had discovered a body she became extremely distressed. There was nothing she could do but wait, becoming more and more hysterical as she anticipated the terrible confirmation that they had found her baby, James.
The local community had created a makeshift memorial for James near the railway. People brought balloons, flowers and teddy bears to place near the tracks in prayerful remembrance. Robert Thompson himself later laid a single rose at the site of the memorial.
THE ARREST
Since the video footage only showed the back of the boys, the police had no solid leads for almost a full week following the murder. However, all that changed early on February 18, when an anonymous caller reported she had a friend whose son, she knew for a fact, skipped school the day of the kidnapping. In addition to that, the witness stated that she had seen the said child wearing a mustard-coloured coat with blue paint on the jacket sleeve. She also said that he had a friend named Robert Thompson, with whom he had skipped school that day. With no other solid leads, investigators decided that Jon and Robert should be brought in for questioning.
At 7.30 a.m. on Thursday morning the Merseyside constabulary showed up on Ann Thompson’s doorstep with a search warrant. When Robert realized that he was a suspect, he started to cry. They searched the house, gathered up all his clothes, and immediately noticed that there was blood on his shoes.
When they arrived at the Venables’ house a search revealed Jon’s mustard-yellow coat which had indeed been splattered with blue paint. It even appeared that there was a small handprint on the sleeve. When they went to take Jon away he broke down and sobbed, ‘I don’t want to go to prison, mum. I didn’t kill the baby.’
Both boys crumbled and cried on the spot and blamed each other for all the bad stuff they had done to their victim. But despite these distressed reactions, the police were still not totally
convinced that these two small boys had been the killers. They were simply making enquiries following an anonymous tip-off. There were other boys in the area who had records for violence and, besides, the boys in the videotape looked to be around 13 or 14 years old and Jon and Robert were only 10.
By Saturday, after many hours of questioning, both Jon and Robert were totally exhausted and distraught. The investigating officers knew they had enough evidence to prosecute the boys and consequently brought the interviews to an end. Although both boys had been difficult to interview, they had been informative in different ways. Robert denied his part in the killing calling the other witnesses liars, but when he did talk, it appeared to be closer to the truth. He was definitely the more manipulative of the two boys, and only cried when it suited him. Jon, on the other hand, seemed to blame Robert for everything, but finally did admit to more than Robert had. His lies were far more elaborate lies, but he was also quicker to admit that he was not telling the truth. It was the fact that Jon became so distressed during the interviews, which hampered the police in getting to the truth of what had really happened.
On Saturday at 6.15 p.m. Jon was charged with the abduction and murder of James Bulger. When Robert was charged the same night, he simply responded, ‘It was Jon that done that.’
While they awaited their trial, Jon and Robert were placed in special private quarters, isolated from all other juvenile offenders, including one another. While they were there psychiatrists examined the boys and determined they were mentally fit to stand trial.
JON’S CHILDHOOD PROFILE
Jon was born on August 13, 1982, to Susan and Neil Venables. Neil worked as a forklift truck driver but was very often unemployed. Jon was the middle child, and both of his siblings had developmental problems. His older brother was born with a cleft pallet, which led to communication problems, frustration, and frequent temper tantrums. He had to attend a special school, and Jon’s parents spent a lot of time trying to control his brother’s behaviour. Sometimes he would be sent out to foster families in order to give the family a break.
Jon’s younger sister also had developmental problems and ended up at a special needs school as well. Jon was piggy-in-the-middle, probably feeling ignored, and possibly resentful of the extra attention his siblings received. On occasion, Jon would mimic his older brother’s temper tantrums just in order to get attention from his parents.
Mr and Mrs Venables’ marriage was very turbulent, continually splitting up and then reuniting, which undermined any sense of security within the family unit. The household was in a constant state of upheaval, and the instability affected all three of their children. Both parents had histories of clinical depression, and Susan was particularly prone to hysterics. When she became very stressed she had been seen both physically and verbally assaulting Jon, sometimes sending him to his father’s house saying she was unable to cope with him. At the age of seven, Jon was showing signs of anti-social behaviour. He hated the other children in the neighbourhood because they constantly teased him and his siblings. Jon himself had a squint in one eye, which made him the subject of mockery, and an easy target because he was so easily provoked by their teasing.
Due to the fact that he was difficult to manage, Jon was transferred to another school, but was kept back for one year. It was here that he met his classmate Robert Thompson, another pupil who had been kept behind. Susan said he had been transferred to another school because he was the subject of bullying, but it appears that once Jon met up with Robert, they themselves became the bullies. They singled out kids who were weak or easy targets and picked on them, which probably made Jon feel good as he had been used to being the victim. With Robert as his friend Jon felt tough, and the pair took to skipping school on a regular basis.
Teachers at the school noticed how Jon and Robert seemed to bring out the worst in one another, and tried very hard to keep them apart. Although this was possible while they attended school, there was nothing they could do while the pair played truant. Although they were considered to be a pair of troublemakers, no one really saw the boys as being potentially violent.
At home, Jon’s mother changed his diet in the hope that it would calm him down, but nothing seemed to work. He always seemed to be picking fights with his brother. When Jon went to stay with his father, Robert would call round but was always chased away by Mr Venables. Robert was a bad influence, Neil warned, and Jon was to stay away from him as he would end up getting the same reputation.
In some people’s views it was Jon’s own father who was the bad influence on the boy. Neil was very fond of renting videos and his choice of titles was even criticized at the trial. One in particular that drew particular attention was his showing of Child’s Play 3, which he allowed Jon to watch. The movie is about the soul of a serial killer that inhabits a doll named ‘Chucky’. The evil doll, about the same size as James, runs around slaughtering hapless victims. In the end Chucky is killed in a haunted roller coaster/train ride. A battle ensues on the railway tracks and Chucky, who is eventually dismembered, has blue paint splattered all over his face. Although there is no proof that Jon saw the entire film, there are certainly many similarities to the crime that the two boys committed.
Jon certainly had an active imagination, but he apparently repressed a great deal of hostility. He always denied vehemently that there were any problems at home, despite his hysterical behaviour in the classroom. Although Neil certainly didn’t appear to be abusive, his mother Susan certainly seems to have wielded an extreme amount of control over Jon. More than anything else, Jon absolutely feared her condemnation and rejection.
The doctor who examined Jon before his trial, believed that there was no obvious disability or brain damage that had caused Jon’s behavioural problems, and she felt that he was fit to stand trial. Psychological reports assured that Jon did not suffer from any severe mental illnesses, including depression or hallucinations. He was, however, anxious, fidgety and temperamentally fragile a lot of the time, and became easily distressed when discussing any aspects of the murder.
It was important to establish that Jon understood the finality of death, which would affect his comprehension of the severity of his crime. Jon said that death meant that people could not come back, and had an ideal of heaven and hell as permanent places. He also claimed to be scared of television violence. If there was a scene in a movie with ‘blood coming out’, Jon said he would turn away from the screen and put his fingers in his ears.
In most accounts of the James Bulger case it would appear that it was Jon who took the lead in trying to coax children away from their mothers. Jon certainly had a festering temper, which might have propelled the mischievous kidnapping into a murderous assault.
ROBERT’S BACKGROUND PROFILE
Robert Thompson was definitely the tough one out of the two boys, and the one everyone assumed to be the ringleader. His aggression was more likely to have been used for the purposes of defence as he had been raised in a rough and brutal environment. Robert’s father, who had come from a violent family, beat his wife relentlessly and then abandoned the family for good while the children were still young. His mother, also from an abusive family, married Robert’s father at the age of eighteen to escape the severe beatings she received from her father. But, unfortunately, with the new man in her life, came more beatings. Just like her own father, Ann’s new husband turned out to be an aggressive alcoholic. He repeatedly beat his wife in front of the children and Ann, out of her own frustration and fear, hit her sons with sticks and belts. She attempted suicide several times, but eventually turned to drink as a means of escape. Unfortunately the children, instead of protecting one another, just turned on each other showing the same violence they had experienced in their parents.
Robert was the fifth child out of six boys. At the age of four the eldest Thompson boy was placed in child protective services following a series of abuse. Another brother of Robert’s became a master thief, taking Robert along with him on his escap
ades. One brother was an arsonist and suspected of sexually abusing young children and, although it is not certain, Robert may have been a victim himself. Another brother threatened his teachers with violence and constantly attempted suicide. The Thompson brothers were well known to the police and police workers and whenever a crime was committed, they were the first family to be questioned.
Robert, himself, tried to be a good boy and would help his mother, desperately trying to please her. Robert was a poor student and frequently skipped school. His teachers always considered him to be shy and quiet, and yet a little manipulative of others. Most of the other kids in the class avoided him, and Jon was to become one of his few friends.
Unfortunately, Robert’s abuse at the hands of his older brothers began to repeat in his treatment of his baby brother Ryan. But, although he intimidated his younger brother, they still shared a very strong, if not strange, bond. They liked to share the same bed at night, and would lie together sucking one another’s thumb. Robert’s relationship with Ryan may provide some rough blueprints to the crime against James Bulger. Robert bullied Ryan into bunking off school and made him go with him on his adventures. He once even abandoned his distraught brother by the canal – the same place in fact where Jon and Robert temporarily left James.
But, for all of his toughness, Robert still exhibited childish tendencies for which he was frequently teased. He played with Troll Dolls and still sucked his thumb. Jon pushed him into a hardness beyond his years and, forced to repress his own childishness, it is possible Robert took out his aggressions on an innocent baby, something that Robert was never allowed to be.
