- 2 days ago
- #childkidnapping
- #murder
- #liverpool
James Patrick Bulger was a 2 year old boy from Kirkby, Merseyside, England, who was abducted, tortured, and murdered
by two 10-year-old boys, Robert Thompson and Jon Venables. They kidnapped him from The Strand shopping center and was
found 2 1/2 miles away from where he was kidnapped.
#childkidnapping #murder #liverpool
by two 10-year-old boys, Robert Thompson and Jon Venables. They kidnapped him from The Strand shopping center and was
found 2 1/2 miles away from where he was kidnapped.
#childkidnapping #murder #liverpool
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LearningTranscript
00:00Hello and welcome to the Dark Mystery Lounge.
00:03We're going to continue our journey through England to Liverpool to talk about the James Bulger case.
00:10Now I want to bring up the same question from the Mary Bell case that I talked about last time.
00:17Do you think children who commit horrible crimes such as murder can be rehabilitated?
00:24Let's find out.
00:25On February 12, 1993, Denise Bulger and her two-year-old son James went shopping at the Strand Shopping Center in Boothill.
00:38While inside the butcher shop on the lower floor of the center at around 3.45pm, Denise let go of James' hand just for a moment to pay for her items.
00:49When she was finished paying, she reached for her son's hand, only to realize her worst nightmare.
00:56James was gone.
00:58She frantically started looking everywhere for him.
01:00She first looked where the coin-operated kiddie rides are because he loved playing on them, but he wasn't there.
01:07She looked around the busy shopping center, asking from shop to shop, but no one had seen him.
01:12Police were called in to look for James.
01:14Time passed and it was getting dark.
01:17The shops were closing up.
01:19Denise was taken to the police station.
01:22At around 1am, police looked at the CCTV footage to see if they could figure out what happened to little James.
01:29Shockingly, they found him, hand in hand with a stranger.
01:33He did not wander off.
01:34He was taken.
01:35It only took a matter of under two minutes to abduct him and walk out of the shopping center.
01:41A press conference was held the next day.
01:44James' parents pled for their son's safe return.
01:48Police announced at the time that they were looking for two boys, since they were seen on the CCTV footage leading the toddler out.
01:56The CCTV footage was shown of the boys with James.
02:00Posters were made and put up everywhere.
02:02A lot of people called in with tips and volunteers wanted to help.
02:06Since it was children that took James, no one thought that any harm would come to him and he would be brought back safe.
02:14Unfortunately, that was not the case.
02:17The following day, two days after James was abducted, a group of kids playing on the railroad tracks near the former Walton and Anfield Railway Station made a horrific discovery.
02:28They ran across the street to the Walton Police Station to inform the officers as to what they saw.
02:35To everyone's shock and horror, it was the body of James, two and a half miles from where he was abducted.
02:41He had multiple injuries to his face, body, and even genital mutilation.
02:46He was cut in half by a train.
02:48His clothes were removed from the waist down.
02:51The crime scene was quickly taped off.
02:53At the autopsy, they found 42 injuries in total, including 10 skull fractures, but none could be singled out as the cause of death.
03:02He was already dead when the train hit him.
03:05His death was ruled as a homicide.
03:08Hundreds of flowers were left at both the shopping center and near the railway embankment where James was found.
03:14The search for the killers began with looking into children between the ages of 10 to 18 that have had violent records.
03:28The CCTV footage was low resolution, so it was grainy, so it was hard to make out the face of the children.
03:35There were a total of 38 witnesses that came forth to say that they saw the two boys with a crying toddler, but most of them did not intervene.
03:43Two people challenged the boys, but they either claimed that James was their brother, or that he was lost, and that they were taking him to a police station.
03:52Over 60 boys were questioned about their whereabouts.
03:55There was even additional CCTV footage from a car park.
03:59The images were poor, but the boys and James could be made out.
04:04That also gave detectives a more narrow window as to how old these boys were, between 10 to 12 years old.
04:11The breakthrough came when a woman, who was a family friend, was at their house on the evening of February 12th, when her friend's son came home, looking very messy and dirty.
04:22He even had paint on him.
04:24This family friend recognized the images from the TV and finally put two and two together.
04:29She remembered seeing them playing truant from school that day.
04:33It was John Venables, along with his friend, Robert Thompson.
04:37She contacted the police.
04:39The detectives reached out to the boys' school to confirm that they were indeed truant that day.
04:45On February 18th, Robert Thompson was arrested.
04:48Then, John Venables was arrested on February 20th.
04:51They were both only 10 years old.
04:53They also got the jacket that John Venables was wearing on the day of the murder as evidence.
04:59They were taken to two separate police stations for questioning, with their parents present.
05:04At first, they both denied ever being at the Strand shopping center.
05:08But there was a new piece of evidence that proved that they were there.
05:11There was a shop across the street from the Strand, and the shop owner recognized the boys pressing their hands against the glass.
05:19The police were able to get the fingerprints off the glass, and they were a match to the boys' fingerprints.
05:24Plus, there was blood on Robert's shoe that matched with James.
05:28There was also blue model paint that they had stolen from one of the shops at the Strand, was on the clothes of both boys, and James' body matched.
05:37Questioning was done very gently, but slowly the truth started to come out.
05:42That they were there, and that they did take James.
05:44It was even admitted that James was not the first toddler they tried to abduct.
05:49The first attempt failed when the mother intervened.
05:52Both Robert and John blamed each other for killing James.
05:55They went into detail that they wandered around with James.
05:59At first, they wanted to push him into traffic, but decided not to.
06:03As they were walking, they wanted to push him into the canal.
06:06They just kept torturing him as they were walking.
06:09Once they got to the railway line, they were getting tired of him, and it was getting late.
06:14They took him up a steep embankment, where they started hitting him with rocks, bricks, and a metal pole, and any objects they could find.
06:22They laid him on the railroad track, thinking that it would look like an accident.
06:27At one point, Robert asked the detective whether James had been taken to the hospital to get him alive again.
06:34They both cried periodically during questioning, but it was quickly noticed that there were no tears when they cried.
06:40The boys were each charged with the murder of James Bulger on February 20, 1993, and appeared at the South Sefton Youth Court on February 22, 1993, where they were remanded into custody to await trial.
06:55On March 1, 1993, the funeral for little James was held.
07:00Thousands of people lined the streets in mourning as the funeral procession drove by.
07:05His funeral was held at Sacred Heart Church in Kirby.
07:08James was laid to rest at Kirkdale Cemetery.
07:11When the boys first appeared in court before their trial, there were over 500 protesters outside of the courthouse.
07:26The parents of the accused were moved to different parts of the country and assumed new identities following death threats from vigilantes.
07:34The trial began on November 1, 1993.
07:38Both of them were charged with murder, abduction, and attempted abduction.
07:43The attempted abduction was for the little boy they tried to snatch before James, and they were stopped by the mother.
07:50The boys denied the charges.
07:52It was argued that the boys were too young to know right from wrong, and thus should not be criminally responsible.
07:58However, the prosecutor successfully argued that Robert and John were considered by the court to be capable of mischievous discretion,
08:08meaning an ability to act with criminal intent as they were mature enough to understand that they were doing something seriously wrong.
08:17A child psychiatrist, Eileen Bizard, who interviewed Robert Thompson before trial,
08:22was asked in court whether he could know the difference between right and wrong,
08:27that it was wrong to take a young child away from his mother,
08:30and that it was wrong to cause injury to a child.
08:34Bizard replied,
08:35quote,
08:36If the issue is on the balance of probabilities, I think I can answer with certainty, unquote.
08:43Bizard also said that Robert was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder after the attack on James.
08:49Susan Bailey, the home office's forensic psychiatrist, who interviewed John Venables,
08:56said unequivocally that he knew the difference between right and wrong.
09:00Neither of the boys testified in their own defense.
09:02All the evidence that was collected during the investigation,
09:06including the tape-recorded interviews,
09:08the bricks, stones, iron bar, and other objects that were used on James,
09:13the blood and paint on the clothes and shoes.
09:16After his appearance in court,
09:19John Venables would strip off his clothes, saying,
09:22quote,
09:22I can smell James like a baby smell, unquote.
09:26On November 24th,
09:28Robert Thompson and John Venables were found guilty.
09:31Mr. Justice Moreland told Robert and John
09:35that they had committed a crime of unparalleled evil and barbarity.
09:39In my judgment, your conduct was both cunning and very wicked.
09:44Moreland sentenced them to be detained at Her Majesty's pleasure,
09:48with a recommendation that they should be kept in custody for,
09:53very, very many years to come, unquote.
09:56At the close of the trial,
09:58the judge lifted the reporting restriction
10:00and allowed the names of the killers to be released,
10:03saying,
10:03quote,
10:04I did this because the public interest overrode the interest of the defendants.
10:09There was a need for an informed public debate on crimes committed by young children, unquote.
10:15During the trial,
10:15any news coverage they referred to the boys as Child A and Child B.
10:26Apparently, when the judge said
10:28that they were going to be locked up for very many years to come,
10:32he only meant for them to be locked up for a minimum of eight years.
10:35It was argued that the minimum should be 10 years,
10:39maybe even 15.
10:41The sentence was changed to a minimum of 15 years,
10:44meaning that they would not be considered for release until February of 2008,
10:49by which time they would be 25 years old.
10:52Robert Thompson was held at the Barton Moss Secure Care Center in Manchester.
10:58John Venables was detained in Barty House,
11:01a small eight-bedded unit at the Red Bank Secure Unit in St. Helens on Merseyside.
11:06These locations were not publicly known until after the boys' release.
11:10The boys were taught to conceal their real names and the crime they committed.
11:15John received regular visits from his parents,
11:17and Robert's mother came to visit him often.
11:20They were educated and rehabilitated.
11:22Even though John experienced a few issues at first,
11:26he eventually made good progress.
11:28Both boys suffered from PTSD,
11:31and John in particular told of experiencing nightmares and flashbacks of the murder.
11:36In 1999, lawyers for Thompson and Venables
11:39appealed to the European Court of Human Rights
11:42that the boys' trial had not been impartial,
11:45since they were too young to follow proceedings and understand an adult court.
11:50The court dismissed the claim that the trial was inhuman and degrading treatment,
11:55but upheld the claim they were denied a fair trial by nature of the court proceedings.
12:01The court also held that the Home Secretary's intervention
12:04had led to a highly charged atmosphere,
12:08which resulted in an unfair judgment.
12:10On March 15, 1999,
12:13the court ruled 14 votes to 5
12:15that there had been a violation of Article 6
12:18of the European Convention on Human Rights
12:20regarding the fairness of the trial of Thompson and Venables,
12:24stating,
12:25quote,
12:25The public trial process in an adult court
12:28must be regarded,
12:30in the case of an 11-year-old,
12:31as a severely intimidating procedure,
12:34unquote.
12:35In September of 1999,
12:37James' parents appealed to the European Court of Human Rights,
12:40but failed to persuade the court
12:42that a victim of a crime
12:44has the right to be involved
12:46in determining the sentence of the perpetrator.
12:49The European court case
12:51led to the new Lord Chief Justice,
12:53Lord Wolf,
12:54reviewing the minimum sentence.
12:56In October 2000,
12:57he recommended the tariff be reduced to 8 years,
13:01adding that Her Majesty's Young Offenders Institution
13:03was a corrosive atmosphere for juveniles.
13:07In June 2001,
13:09after a six-month review,
13:10the parole board ruled
13:12the boys are no longer a threat to public safety
13:14and could be released,
13:16as their minimum tariff had expired in February of that year.
13:20The exact date of their release was never public,
13:23but the media got wind that they were being released.
13:26They were given new identities,
13:27new names,
13:28passports,
13:29papers,
13:30everything,
13:31but they had to follow the rules of their parole.
13:33They were not allowed to contact each other
13:35or James Bulger's family.
13:37They were prohibited from visiting the Merseyside region.
13:40Curfews may be imposed on them,
13:42and they must report to probation officers.
13:45If they violate any of these rules,
13:46they would be sent to prison.
13:48An injunction was imposed on the media after the trial,
13:51preventing the publication of details
13:54about Thompson and Venables.
13:55The worldwide injunction was kept in force
13:58following their release on parole,
14:00so their new identities and locations
14:02could not be published.
14:04So the photos of the boys when they were kids
14:06was all anyone was allowed to see.
14:09Needless to say,
14:10the public was pissed
14:11when they heard that the boys never set foot
14:14in a young offenders institution,
14:16but instead stayed in a secure unit,
14:18which didn't seem like they were punished at all.
14:21After their release,
14:22there were a lot of innocent men
14:24that were beaten up
14:25because they looked like one of the boys,
14:27now men.
14:28Everyone felt like eight years
14:29was not a long enough punishment
14:31for what they have done.
14:38It seems like John Venables
14:40wasn't exactly keeping his end of the deal
14:42when it came to his parole.
14:44Shortly before his 2001 release,
14:47when he was only 17,
14:48John was alleged to have had sex
14:50with a woman who worked at the Red Bank Secure Unit
14:53where he was held.
14:54The female staff member
14:56was suspended for sexual misconduct.
14:58She never returned to work at Red Bank.
15:01He had a number of young girlfriends
15:02after his release.
15:04One of them was just 17.
15:06He was excessively drinking,
15:08taking drugs,
15:09and downloading child abuse images,
15:11as well as visiting Merseyside.
15:13He got into fights at nightclubs.
15:15In 2010,
15:16John returned to prison
15:17for an unspecified violation.
15:19Turns out those violations
15:21were from downloading
15:22and distributing 57 images of CP.
15:26After the court hearing,
15:27it emerged that John had
15:29posed in online chat rooms
15:31as 35-year-old Dawn Donnie Smith,
15:34a married woman from Liverpool
15:36who boasted about abusing
15:37her 8-year-old daughter
15:39in hopes of obtaining
15:40further CP material.
15:42On September 3, 2013,
15:44it was reported that
15:45John had been released from prison.
15:47On November 23, 2017,
15:50he was popped again
15:51for even more CP.
15:52This time,
15:53he admitted being in possession
15:55of 392 Category A,
15:58148 Category B,
16:01and 638 Category C CP images,
16:04and was sentenced to 3 years
16:06and 4 months in prison.
16:08He was denied parole
16:09in September 2020.
16:11He was scheduled
16:11for another parole hearing
16:13in October 2022,
16:15but it was postponed
16:16for at least 3 months.
16:18As of now,
16:19in 2023,
16:19he's still in prison,
16:21which, honestly,
16:22he needs to stay there.
16:23He clearly didn't learn
16:24his lesson.
16:25As for Robert Thompson,
16:27he kept his nose clean.
16:28It seems like he straightened
16:29himself up
16:30and has disappeared.
16:32Unfortunately,
16:32Ralph and Denise
16:33Bulger's marriage
16:34fell apart,
16:35and they got divorced
16:36in 1995.
16:37Ralph remarried
16:38and has three daughters
16:39with a second wife.
16:41Denise also remarried
16:42to Stuart Fergus.
16:44They have three sons.
16:45A Red Balloon Learner Center
16:47in Merseyside
16:48was set up
16:48in memory of little James
16:50was launched
16:51by his mother
16:51and Esther Ranson.
16:53A memorial garden
16:54in James' memory
16:56was created
16:57in the Sacred Heart
16:58Primary School
16:59in his hometown of Kirby,
17:01the school
17:01he would have been
17:02expected to attend
17:03had he not been murdered.
17:05As her sons
17:05were growing up,
17:06Denise was extremely
17:07protective of them.
17:08She wouldn't take
17:09her eyes off them
17:10even for a second.
17:11At first,
17:12the kids really
17:13didn't understand
17:13why their mother
17:14was like that
17:15until they found out
17:16about their older brother,
17:17James.
17:18They visit James' grave
17:19on a regular basis.
17:21Now that Denise
17:22has become a grandmother,
17:23she wants to instill
17:24the lessons learned
17:26from what happened
17:26to James.
17:27To hold your children
17:28close to you
17:29and to never let go.
17:37So after hearing
17:38about this case,
17:39what do you think?
17:40Do you think children
17:41who commit horrible crimes
17:42such as murder
17:43can be rehabilitated?
17:44I think this one
17:46is kind of a 50-50 split.
17:48For Robert,
17:49it did work.
17:50He kept out of trouble
17:51and has ultimately
17:52disappeared.
17:53As for John,
17:54oh boy,
17:55he failed so hard
17:56it's not even funny.
17:58Honestly,
17:58after re-offending twice,
18:00I think they need
18:00to keep him locked up.
18:02He is truly a monster.
18:04I still don't understand
18:05why the British government
18:06is so keen on
18:07spending money
18:08to hide his identity
18:09still
18:10after he was caught
18:11with CP.
18:11They wanted to ship
18:13him off to either
18:14Canada,
18:14Australia,
18:15or New Zealand
18:16because it cost
18:17so much money
18:17to keep his identity
18:19hidden.
18:19Those other countries
18:20basically said,
18:21yeah, no.
18:22Can't say I blame them.
18:24I feel like this case
18:24was every parent's
18:25worst nightmare.
18:26To let go of your
18:27child's hand
18:28only for a second
18:29and they disappeared
18:30so fast.
18:32So what did you
18:33think about this case?
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18:48Thank you for hanging
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18:49in the Dark Mystery Lounge.
18:51This is Phoenix
18:51signing out.
18:53Have a good evening
18:53and stay safe.
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