James Bulger

James Bulger was a 2 year old at the time he was kidnapped, beat, tortured, sexually assaulted and killed. His killers are said to be the youngest killers of the century throughout 250 years. These young killers were 10 year olds, Jon Venables and Robert Thompson. The killing took place in England.

The two boys went to the Strand Shopping Centre in Bootle, Merseyside on February 12, 1993. As soon as James’ mother, Denise Fergus was distracted as she did some shopping at a butchers shop, James was taken away and led by the two boys away from the centre for approximately 2 1/2 miles.

Many people noticed James being accompanied by Jon and Robert but when questioning them they answered that James was a little brother they also answered that they were taking him to a local police station because he was lost. Once they got to their final destination, a railway line they began to beat torture and sexually assault James. They poured blue modeling paint into his eyes, they stoned and clubbed him with bricks before leaving him to get hit by a train.

James was found dead 2 days later. The boys were viewed as naughty boys around the neighborhood. When it finally clicked to a neighbor that she remembered seeing the kids with blue paint on their shirts, the police questioned and brought them in for an interrogation. They confessed to the crime and had to do be tried in adult court because of the outrage by many people. They ended up having to serve 8 years in prison. There is not much about the trial due to the fact that these kids were minors.

In June 2011, the boys were released with new identities but it wasn’t long until Venables had to return back to jail for getting caught with child pornography. He admitted to having a sickness. He had to get a second identity. As far as for Thompson, he is living somewhere in England with his partner (who Robert was forced to tell about the James case). Today, Robert has shown that he is gay. Due to having new identities it is unknown who Robert and Jon are today.

Sadly I wasn’t able to find out why the boys did what they did even though I’m not sure if the crime itself explained the likes of the boys, the reason they are who they are. To further explain, I’m not sure if because they got caught and sent to prison missing out their childhood made them become gay (robert) and or become interested in child pornography (Jon). Or if they already had these factors before committing the crime. I think what they did was horrible. I was against giving them second identities. People have a right to know and be angry and they had it coming. I guess I’m being harsh because they were only kids when they did this but I am 100% sure they had morals and they knew what they were doing was wrong. I’m in favor of them being tried in an adult court. It’s a sad story and it’s hard to not let your emotions take over while trying to figure out the best consequence for these KIDS. For example, are the parents to blame? I’m not sure if this could have been avoided, because even with Jon, while he was in prison officials had no idea if his interest in child pornography. I think that’s crazy!