jon venables family background

He had so many injuries it was hard to determine which had been fatal. Despite this, Bulger's mother, Denise, told how in 2004 she received a tip-off from an anonymous source that helped her locate Thompson. Judge Andrew McFarlane turned down the request, saying that the "uniquely notorious" nature of the case meant there is "a strong possibility, if not a probability, that if his identity were known, he would be pursued, resulting in grave and possibly fatal consequences. The first involved downloading 57 indecent pictures of children on to his computer between February 2009 and February 2010. Suffice to say that the word evil is never far away from the names of Robert Thompson and Jon Venables. . They should instill values and principles in a child but they cannot be there all the time - as Denise Bulger (now Fergus) learned at a terrible cost. He had been tortured - beaten with bricks and an iron bar. The killer was 10-years-old when he and Robert Thompson murdered two-year-old [71] Ralph also remarried, and has three daughters by his second wife. Both boys had been held back a year, and they were put in the same class. AETNUK All Rights Reserved. But can such guilt be so neatly apportioned? "You look at him and you say to yourself, 'How could you be involved in anything like this?'" For two children to do what they did, both Jon Venables and Robert Thompson must have been quite seriously disturbed. The paper also stated that Bulger family's lawyers had consulted psychiatric experts in order to present the parole panel with a report which suggested that Thompson is an undiagnosed psychopath, citing his lack of remorse during his trial and arrest. After they left the scene, his body was cut in half by a train. He has had his holidays like everyone else. [24][25][26] He sustained 10 skull fractures as a result of the bar striking his head. In 2008, a new probation officer said that he spent "a great deal of leisure time" playing video games and on the Internet. They said their son met Robert Thompson in September 1991, when Jon was transferred from another school. . [130] He was scheduled for another parole hearing in October 2022 but it was postponed for at least three months. AI chatbots 'may soon be more intelligent than us', Russia troop deaths hit 20,000 in five months - US, Palestinian hunger striker dies in Israel prison, The 17 most eye-catching looks at the Met Gala, The burden of being cricket legend Tendulkar's son, 'My wife and six children joined Kenya starvation cult', On board the worlds last surviving turntable ferry. James Bulgers death. While it was their sons up there in the specially-raised dock, the parents of Thompson and Venables could have been left in no doubt that they too were on trial - that the blame for this terrible murder was placed at the door of their shambolic households. The pathologist spent 33 minutes outlining the injuries sustained by Bulger; many of those to his legs had been inflicted after he was stripped from the waist down. In April 2011, in the aftermath of his 2010 imprisonment, these allegations were outlined in a Sunday Times Magazine article written by David James Smith, who had been following the Bulger case since the 1993 trial, and again later in a BBC documentary titled Jon Venables: What Went Wrong? Paradoxically, this concern with her appearance later endeared her to reporters in court. On the other hand, little is known about the player's background or family life. He says 'I know, Mum'. [111] He pleaded guilty to charges of downloading and distributing child pornography, and was sentenced to two years' imprisonment. Some seven years later, the Court of Human Rights would rule that they should never have been tried in an adult court. By contrast, Ann Thompson was demonised as a fat, drunk, uncaring mother. Weeping, she said: 'I wasn't actually on the railway track because there is a fence, but I went up the side. Photograph: PA. I wish we could turn the clocks back,' Mrs [128] On 7 February, Venables pleaded guilty to possession of indecent images of children for a second time. [20] At one point, the boys took Bulger into a pet shop, from which they were ejected. On 20 September 2008, he was held on suspicion of affray over a street fight with a man who claimed Venables had attacked his girlfriend. The pathologist's report, which was read out in court, found that Bulger's foreskin had been forcibly pulled back. He had been quiet that weekend, they said, but they had thought that was because his mother had taken him to the police station on the Friday evening for playing truant. There were some you or I wouldn't want to see, but nothingno scene, or plot, or dialoguewhere you could put your finger on the freeze button and say that influenced a boy to go out and commit murder. [6][7], Closed-circuit television (CCTV) at the New Strand Shopping Centre in Bootle on 12 February 1993 showed Thompson and Venables casually observing children, apparently selecting a target. "It is hard to take in really. Vicious murders can often be motivated by a sexual element. On 27 June 2011, the parole board decided that he would remain in custody, and that his parole would not be considered again for at least another year. [72][73] The Observer revealed that both Venables and Thompson had passed A-Levels during their sentences. Did bad parenting turn Thompson and Venables into killers? Some of the images involved children as young as two years old and some showed the rape of young girls. Read about our approach to external linking. The evidence is even less clear. "[35], The boys were each charged with the murder of James Bulger on 20 February 1993,[9] and appeared at South Sefton Youth Court on 22 February 1993, where they were remanded in custody to await trial. It was also revealed that Cheshire police had produced a "threat assessment" to try to establish what could happen to Venables were his new identity revealed. Mrs Venables said: 'I think it was because the class group was too big for them to go in . Or even tough answers, come to that. They placed batteries in Bulger's mouth[23] and may have inserted some into his anus, although none were found there. Jon's parents, who sat in court for most of the trial, said they grieved for the Bulgers. But now and again. That assessment concluded that Venables would face the highest possible risk of being attacked if his name was either published in the media or known elsewhere in society. The breakthrough came when a woman, upon seeing slightly enhanced images of the two boys on national television, recognised Venables, and remembered seeing him playing truant with Thompson in the Bootle area that day. They took on new identities, tried to create new lives. The female staff member was suspended for sexual misconduct; she never returned to work at Red Bank. He always had plenty of friends. As a result, we've decided to take you behind the scenes of the Mbappe family. It was difficult not to note Ann's sparse attendance in Preston crown court, as her son barely comprehended what was going on around him. Summing up, the judge, Mr Justice Morland, told them they had committed a crime of "unparalleled evil and barbarity". More horrific still was the revelation that his killers were only children themselves, 10 year olds Jon Venables and Robert Thompson. [9][68][69] In 2001, Blunkett stated: "The injunction was granted because there was a real and strong possibility that their lives would be at risk if their identities became known. Both men were charged with a public order offence, but this was later dropped. [133][134] In response to media coverage, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern remarked that, due to his criminal history, Venables would need an exemption under New Zealand's Immigration Act 2009, and that he should "not bother" applying. "[121] The incident occurred after a man from Exeter posted photographs on a website devoted to identifying paedophiles, allegedly showing Venables as an adult, and revealing his name. The bullying and violence continued after his father left, with the brothers turning on themselves. Parents are invariably ordinary people with problems of their own. A lifetime ban was placed on reporting anything about either his or Thompson's whereabouts or their new identities after their release. [4] Details of the boys' lives were recorded twice daily on running sheets and signed by the member of staff who had written them; the records were stored at the units and copied to officials in Whitehall. [9][56], After the trial, Thompson was held at the Barton Moss Secure Care Centre in Manchester. While his mother Susan suffered from psychiatric problems and would frequently complain of feeling overwhelmed with parenting. That assessment concluded that Venables would face the highest possible risk of being attacked if his name was either published in the media or known elsewhere in society. Then in 2007, he started drinking heavily and taking drugs, including cocaine and the recently-banned substance mephedrone. [4], In 1999, lawyers for Thompson and Venables appealed to the European Court of Human Rights that the boys' trial had not been impartial, since they were too young to follow proceedings and understand an adult court. They answered the question the next day, relaying the Australian government's denial that the killers had been settled in the country. During the trial, the full horror of James' death emerged. Could the pair of them have sought out a younger boy in order to gain dominion over him? Video, On board the worlds last surviving turntable ferry, Met Gala 2023: Stars celebrate Karl Lagerfeld, HSBC says 1 bank buyout boosted profit by $1.5bn, Yellen warns US could run out of cash in a month, Shooting suspect was deported four times - US media, Palestinian hunger striker dies in Israel prison. Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Does watching simulated violence, or playing violent video games, actually cause violence, though? [9] At the trial, the lead prosecution counsel Richard Henriques successfully rebutted the principle of doli incapax, which presumes that young children cannot be held legally responsible for their actions. [27], Thompson and Venables laid James Bulger across the railway tracks and weighted his head down with rubble, hoping that a train would hit him and his death would be ruled an accident. Jon Venables (left) and Robert Thomspon were found guilty of abducting and murdering James (Image: PA) Denise soon realised her son was gone, and an announcement was made over the tannoy. Alex Davies-Jones Family: Children, Parents, Siblings, Husband. . He said that on the day James was killed, when he went to the school in the afternoon to collect Jon he was told his son was missing. "The Thompson report is a series of violent incidents," he reported, "none of them in itself enough to justify the kids being taken into care but the sum of them appalling. 'Jon was fearful, weak, and he was provoked': Parents of boys The game's developer, Legacy Interactive, released a statement in which it apologised for the image's inclusion in the game; according to the statement, the image's use was "inadvertent", and took place "without any knowledge of the crime, which occurred in the UK, and was minimally publicised in the United States". Our feelings haven't changed towards him. The report is full of violent instances, with details of such incidents as Ann taking her third son Philip to the police station after he had threatened his older brother Ian with a knife. [137] Although she had not seen the play, Denise Fergus denounced it as a work that was "just designed to try and shock people and grab publicity" and that "anyone who would stoop so low as to use my son's death as a subject for comedy is sick and pathetic. [83] In March 2012, a 26-year-old man from Chorley, Lancashire, was arrested after allegedly setting up a Facebook group with the title "What happened to Jamie Bulger was f**king hilarious." The Bulger case has prompted widespread debate about how to handle young offenders when they are sentenced or released from custody. After the trial, Mr Justice Morland laid the moral responsibility squarely with the parents. He is broken- hearted over it. I have lost my son as well. I used to get them for myself at night time. "[67], In the months after the trial, and following the birth of their second son, the marriage of Bulger's parents, Ralph and Denise, broke down; they divorced in 1995. [150] Vincent Lambe, the film's director, said he would not be withdrawing the film, saying that "it would defeat the purpose of making the film". AI chatbots 'may soon be more intelligent than us', Russia troop deaths hit 20,000 in five months - US, The 17 most eye-catching looks at the Met Gala, Cat-and-mouse chase with China in hotly contested sea, The burden of being cricket legend Tendulkar's son, 'My wife and six children joined Kenya starvation cult', Indian officials wife distraught as his killer is freed, On board the worlds last surviving turntable ferry. [47], Shortly after the trial, and after the judge had recommended a minimum sentence of eight years, Lord Taylor of Gosforth, the Lord Chief Justice, recommended that the two boys should serve a minimum of ten years,[9] which would have made them eligible for release in February 2003 at the age of 20. "[132], In late June 2019, it was reported that British officials had considered resettling Venables in Canada, Australia, or New Zealand, due to the high costs behind protecting his anonymity. These locations were not publicly known until after the boys' release. [151], Coordinates: .mw-parser-output .geo-default,.mw-parser-output .geo-dms,.mw-parser-output .geo-dec{display:inline}.mw-parser-output .geo-nondefault,.mw-parser-output .geo-multi-punct{display:none}.mw-parser-output .longitude,.mw-parser-output .latitude{white-space:nowrap}532633.6N 025735.5W / 53.442667N 2.959861W / 53.442667; -2.959861. The suspicion was that it must have been their lack of care, love, or firm parental control that led to James Bulger's torture and death on a railway line. Jon Venables Photos and Premium High Res Pictures - Getty The Venables and Thompson families were at very different places on the spectrum of "dysfunctional" families: if the chain of causality between parental failings and juvenile homicide were so straightforwardly simple how many families should be regarded as pathological - potential producers of more child childkillers? However, their journey did not come to an end in 1993. The image in question is the CCTV frame of Bulger being led away by Thompson and Venables. [51], Some British tabloid newspapers claimed that the attack on Bulger was inspired by the film Child's Play 3, and campaigned for the rules on "video nasties" to be tightened.

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