Two-year-old James Bulger was kidnapped from a shopping centre by Jon Venables and Robert Thompson, both aged 10, who led him to his death in 1993 in one of the most shocking child crimes in history
Jon Venables and Robert Thompson were just ten years old when they murdered two-year-old James Bulger, kidnapping him from a shopping centre before luring him to his death in 1993.
Venables, now 43, was freed in on license in June 2001 but jailed in 2010 for two years for downloading and distributing child abuse images. In 2018 he was sent back to prison for 40 months for the same offence. His applications for parole have been rejected since, most recently in December 2023.
The killer is set to have his case considered again by the Parole Board next month. Jamie’s mother Denise Fergus will attend the hearing, where she will hear the killer’s voice for the first time in years.
Parole bosses shared this news with James’ family today, which has left Denise feeling “uncertainty and distress”. She will observe proceedings after being granted unprecedented access for the first time ever. She will be able to see everything apart from Venables’ face, which is to be covered to protect his identity. Her victim impact statement is expected to be read out at the hearing. Parole board officials decided that after reviewing written submissions from prison workers, counsellors, psychiatrists and impact statements from members of James’ family, including Denise, it was fair to grant him an oral hearing.
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Kym Morris, a spokeswoman for James’ mum Denise Fergus, told the Mirror: “Today we have been informed that a parole hearing has been granted in relation to John Venables. Once again, Denise Fergus has been forced to confront a process that reopens unimaginable trauma. Denise was hoping for a redirection, with no hearing granted by the MAC, allowing her a measure of peace and protection from further distress. That hope has now been taken away.
“Denise has been informed that her application to observe the hearing has been granted. While this provides her with access to the process, it does not lessen the emotional burden she is being asked to carry, nor does it offer the reassurance or closure she so desperately deserves.
At their original trial in 1993, neither Venables or Thompson – who were tried as adults – spoke. But their voices were heard on hours of chilling tapes from their police interviews. The boys were taken to separate police stations where they gave a total of 20 interviews over three days. And in chilling recordings, they can be heard recounting their roles in the killing in their tiny, almost baby-like voices.
“You’re under caution and you do not have to say anything unless you wish to do so but anything you say may be given in evidence, now you understand that don’t you, Jon?” a stern-voiced police officer told Venables as he read his rights. “Yeah,” the small voice of a young boy answered.
Venables was then shown a still from the CCTV footage that shows the two boys leading James away from the busy shopping centre in Liverpool. “That’s me, that’s me and Robert,” he said. “So the boy holding James’ hand is you?” the police asked. “Yeah,” he admitted.
“And the boy ahead of you in the dark jacket and trousers is Robert Thompson. And what was it you told us?”
“That I killed James,” he confirmed. He added in a tiny voice: “I can’t tell you anything else, ‘cos that’s the worst bit.” He confessed: “We took him on the railway track… then it was Robert’s idea to kill him,” he said.
“Have we finished now ‘cos I can’t speak any more?” he choked up. But in Thompson’s interview, he blamed Venables for the killing. The harrowing interview tapes were revealed in a documentary in 2018 examining whether or not justice was done. The Bulger Killers: Was Justice Done? sparked anger after viewers criticised the Channel 4 show for “sympathising” with the toddler’s killers. Viewers were shocked when experts “defended” the 10-year-old murderers saying they made “an awful mistake”.
Few will ever forget the grainy images of two 10-year-old boys holding a toddler’s hand as they led him to his death. The toddler’s mum Denise was at the counter of a butchers in the Strand shopping centre in Bootle, Liverpool, on February 12, 1993, when she briefly let go of her son’s hand to get some change from her purse. When she turned around moments later, her son was gone.
CCTV footage later showed the innocent toddler being led away by Venables and Thompson, who marched the little boy through the streets of Bootle for two miles – a walk that would have taken hours given his size. They passed 36 people, with one recalling how they urged the boys to take their “little brother” home because he was “crying for his mummy”.
When they finally came to a disused railway track near the police station, the murderous duo killed James and hid his body under bricks. A pathologist later said that there were so many injuries – 42 in total – that not one could be isolated as the cause of the little boy’s death.
Security launched a search for James inside the centre and James’ family looked for their son overnight. Three days later his body was found, and three days after that a tip-off came from a shopkeeper who had seen two boys playing truant on the day James went missing and gave police two names – Jon Venables and Robert Thompson. Neither gave evidence to the court, but were found guilty after an officer told how Venables admitted the murder, saying, “We did it. Will you tell his mum I’m sorry?”
Unlike Jon Venables, Robert Thompson has not re-offended since his release in 2001 and is reported to have led a law-abiding life.
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