"Liverpool Children's Assassins" ENGLAND INGLATERRA

"Liverpool Children's Assassins"

ENGLAND 

Robert Thompson y Jon Venables: "Los Niños Asesinos de Liverpool“¿Quién puede matar a un niño?”

Born in Liverpool, Great Britain, in 1983, children Robert Thompson and Jon Venables were ten years old and a troubled history in school. Also they came from dysfunctional families.Reproved guys were always at school, with dramas of alcoholism, family violence and divorce in their homes. Robert Thompson was a child who had learned to disconnect emotionally from the trauma they had suffered since childhood, especially the abandonment of his father, who left them when he was six, and violence he had seen at home before and after that.

Robert Thompson at school

The parallels with Jon Venables were evident: both had trouble at home a violent environment where they abused alcohol, serious conflicts between their parents, brothers with learning difficulties and also suffered harassment from their peers. That's why they became such friends. A few days before, they had seen the third movie together  Chucky, the doll Diabólico . That tape, according declare months later inspired to commit the action to undertake shortly thereafter.

On February 12, 1993, Robert Thompson and Jon Venables missed school. Days before had tried to steal a child, but the mother had returned early and had not succeeded. That day would try again. They had been circling around the Strand Shopping Center, Bootle, Merseyside (Liverpool), England.

The entrance to the Strand Shopping Center

Inside the  shopping mall

Some time later, an elderly woman remembered that day the boys mocked her to walk hunched over. An employee said the burst of the mortgage office where he worked, after they entered revolvieran screaming and information leaflets. One of them was also seen at the mall bookstore, flipping through a comic; when the clerk asked if he wanted something, "he threw the comic and fled" .

Jon Venables and Robert Thompson lurking, moments before the kidnapping

Meanwhile, Denise Bulger and his two year old son, James Patrick Bulger (born March 16, 1990), they were shopping. To 15:37 hours, little James and his mother went into a bloodbath. Surveillance cameras recorded the entire shopping center, step by step, with overprint time to images. A video documentation of fatal itinerary that winter morning.

James Bulger, the victim

Nearby, the two children were watching. At 15:38, the little boy stood at the door of the tent, waiting for her mother to finish. At 15:39, when Thompson and Venables reached out to him, the child, curious and jovial nature, did not think twice. At 15:40, Denise left the store and was looking for James. At 15:41, James reappeared on another camera: walking along the main gallery of the center accompanied by two children older than him. At 15:42, James approached the door of the enclosure, shaking hands with one of his companions. At 15:43, the trio left the center. That was the last image of James Bulger alive. The mother threw the alarm immediately, but it was too late: James had walked away with their murderers by a secondary exit, as we showed the chambers of CCTV.

The image that went around the world: the moment of kidnapping

The last hours of James Bulger consisted of a long and terrifying walk from the mall to a vacant lot next to a railway track near a river. On the way, thirty-eight witnesses saw them pass.Four kilometers were exhausting march, during which James Bulger wept almost continuously. Several witnesses remembered James tearfully and bruises on his face.

A woman said she saw how the other two children caught James hands, one on each side, and swayed back and forth  "mounting him to the height of their heads" . The boy looked very frightened, wouldexplain later.

Another witness said he had seen the accused  "caught the youngest by the arms and dragged him" . "I found the smallest wanted to run away , " he said. Thirty-eight witnesses see the boys admitted mistreating James Bulger on the way they did, but neither intervened nor defended.

And I was so just the beginning of a long agony. When they reached a railway hamlet of Walton, Robert Thompson and Jon Venables showed no mercy no.First they painted green . Then they threw bricks above the small and beat him repeatedly with a metal bar. Thompson gave such a strong kick in the face that left the mark on the skin. They broke his hands and fingers by stepping on them. From there they removed his pants and diapers and tortured with electric batteries, same as they finished introducing him into the rectum as part of sexual abuse committed with him. They then stopped on the child and jumped over his stomach and chest . He was then kicked in the stomach to blow it . Already dead, they placed the body on the railway tracks so that the train so trashed and simulate an accident. They walked away laughing and making fun of some details, back to their homes.

Crime scenes

Area map

The kidnapping triggered a manhunt unprecedented Scotland Yard mobilized hundreds of agents throughout Britain. The boy's body was found on February 16, after four days of national search: the train had cut in two.

The discovery of the body

The researchers examined the tapes of security video again and again before he realized what had actually happened and what looked stunned them: James had been taken by two other children. At first it was thought that there were two guys sent by the real kidnapper, but the reality of what happened horrified public opinion.

Poster seeking information about the murderers

Robert Thompson and Jon Venables were arrested in a police mobilization worthy of an action film. The express decision of the government, were tried as adults; the English wanted to give a lesson to the world.

Robert Thompson and Jon Venables after his arrest

During the trial, the two defendants attended impassive to the reconstruction made by the prosecution in the courts of Preston, about thirty kilometers from the site where James was stoned and beaten to death. The jury examined the images recorded by the security camera Strand Shopping Center, where the two accused kidnapped the child. Overprinted with time on images, it was easy to order the sequence of events.

At trial, the murderers kids never had a chance to defend themselves: the press and public opinion always treated them as adults. Jon Venables learned to disconnect from what was said in the room, to focus on their shoes or play with your hands. The trial became an act of mass hysteria where the big loser was British childhood.

The trial of Robert Thompson and Jon Venables

Venables and Thompson were never seen as if they were children during the trial but the other British guys lost their freedom, their right to run errands, to play ball in your neighborhood with your friends or just ride a bike on the sidewalk, their right to children. The philosophy that children were not safe anywhere prevailed. You could not leave the children with nobody in charge: thousands of women left their jobs to take care of their children only to the syndrome and fear of kidnapping. Nothing was like before.

Several psychologists defense argued that the murderers thought it was just a game. But that argument did not help: in the end, were sentenced to life imprisonment. British tabloids glorified the life sentence. A British judges was enough to them that boys differed "good from evil" to apply the sentence. The maximum concession that the defendants received was that their names are not known, but the tabloids violated the rules.

Headlines about crime and judgment

Jon Venables and Robert Thompson spent eight years and four months in prison. Although they were separated in prison, the lives of Jon Venables and Robert Thompson were not very different. Both were surrounded by very strong security measures and a legion of specialists. The British government spent on rehabilitation three million pounds (four million dollars). Although children Ball responsibility for the death of Bulger passed for years, both ended up taking his guilt. His time in prison, however, was not so strict: weekdays, rose at 7:00. At 9:15 pm she began their school day until 15:15 hours. In the afternoon they remained locked in his cell until, at 22:00, the lights went out. Weekends were allowed to stay in bed until 11:00. In his birthday, they received ten lbs. Even Venables and Thompson made several supervised outings abroad, many of them to the theater.

James Bulger's funeral

Who else struggled to adapt to life in jail was Jon Venables, who in prison followed escaping from reality. But in November 1997, the psychiatrist reported that Susan Bailey had taken everything. In prison, Venables studied hard, he finished elementary school and several subjects in high school.Educators said they could go to college. During his long recovery process, the child of separated teeth always had the support of his mother. All weekend was visited by his mother, Susan, and his stepfather, Neil.

Jon Venables: the misfit

Robert Thompson, who found it hard to overcome the elementary school, was revealed as an artist. Shortly after entering prison, his mother made him a coffee table. Then he designed a wedding dress he made with the help of a needle and a thimble. His artistic talent can be seen in the visiting room of the prison, where there hung several of his paintings .

Another scandal occurred when, in the electronic game based on the television series Law and Order, kidnapping image was included in one of the scenes. The boy's mother James publicly protested this fact and the image was withdrawn.

The video game: the image of the background note kidnapping

Rehabilitated!

E n 2001, an independent commission headed by the Interior Ministry decided, after four days of debate, the two boys were rehabilitated.Interior Minister David Blunkett, announced the decision of the Commission, chaired by a judge of the High Court with a written answer to a parliamentary question. He stressed that  "no one will ever forget the case of James and pain of his family. The murder of the child James Bulger was a terrible event for your family and for the whole nation, but would not be in the public interest to prosecute those responsible now that parole board has decided that it is no longer necessary for the safety of the public who are confined , " he said.

Protests by releasing murderers

But in Britain, where no one could forget the history of the sadistic little James Bulger execution, the news provoked fury. The ferocity of the action of homicidal children shocked the world. When they learned of the decision to release the mother and father of the little James, already divorced, they said"deeply painful and shocked"  by the decision. "I am disgusted by both the Government and the Commission" , said the mother, Denise. "The life of my son was stolen from an unimaginable way. I have scared now. I do not dare to send my child to school. Who can assure me that these two are not lurking?" , he asked himself.

Denise Bulger after the news of the release of the murderers of his son

So Justice estimated that murderers could not walk on the street with his true identity. As spies, they were then instructed in the art of deception. The most astute brains of the Ministry of Interior toiled in giving false names and surnames, a false past, a false story. So the judge ordered Elizabeth Butler-Sloss, who said:  "There is a real possibility of finding death at the hands of members of the Bulger family or vindictive individuals" . This following the threat made by the father of James, Ralph Bulger:  "I will not stop until you find them" . No one except a small circle, knows what faces have at this time.Not even if you are fat or thin, tall or short. The court ruling prohibits any details about them spreads.

Ralph Bulger: father thirsty for revenge

Venables and Thompson were given a new identity and a safe house: an operation that cost the British government more than four million euros. British justice ordered that the new identities of the murderers never be published. They may not be in contact with each other or with the family of his victim, and are prohibited from approaching Meyerside, his hometown and where they committed the crime.

"New life" for murderers

Supposed portrait of Robert Thompson in his new identity "Sean Walsh"

But experts are skeptical of the possibility of a "new life" for murderers. They argue that the greed of the media and the repudiation of society that will sooner or later find them. Shortly after relocating, came into circulation two versions with alleged recent photographs of Robert Thompson, prompting the government fears that their identity may become known.

Supposed portrait of Robert Thompson in his new identity of "Arthur"

According to Harry Fletcher, president of the Staff Association of Supervisors of prisoners on parole, the chances that one day the true identity of the two homicidal is known is very high. "What if they start a relationship with a girl? What if one of the two is arrested by the police, or is admitted to a hospital, and police checked his background?" , he asked himself. "There will be a significant number of people who know their real identities, and almost certainly will be filtered" he said.

the authorities thought transfer them abroad. Australia, Canada, New Zealand

Where did you start your new life? Initially, authorities thought transfer them abroad. Australia, Canada, New Zealand ... but these countries refused to receive the famous murderers. In addition, outside the UK, it was much more difficult to monitor young criminals. Because even released, the police decided to follow them closely to ensure that the rehabilitation process will not warp, but also to protect them from danger that someone find out your identity and decide to vigilante justice. All rooms of Thompson and Venables houses have alarms connected to the police, who will go to any emergency.

Northern England

The lives of Venables and Thompson recommenced in some town in northern England, where his Liverpool accent would go unnoticed. They are living in an urban center for that the anonymity of cities and, of course, both have their domiciles in different locations. Given the fatal combination that form, never, they never will be. In fact, eight long years now faces are not visible. The last time was on 24 November 1993. They had eleven and sat in the dock, listening to the sentence .

Denise and Ralph Bulger, parents of little James, after the murder of his son

To avoid risks, members of the British Interior Ministry seeking its new family history is as close as possible to the real thing. How will step if, after saying they have studied in this or that school, someone tells you not remember them? The idea worries the murderers. 

"life of lies"

Susan, the mother of Jon Venables was one of the first to test the "life of lies." For security, he adopted a false name and left behind Merseyside, where he was known as "Mother Monster". Robert Thompson's mother, Ann, who has seven other children, then changed its name and moved several times to avoid the wrath of neighbors.

Another problem is the press. British tabloids and tabloids are lurking and a ban on publishing details that might unmask only applies in England and Wales. The boy's mother James Bulger, Denise, thirsting for revenge, recalled that Internet dissemination of details and even photos of the murderers would be legal.

Holders on the release of murderers children

The outraged mother of James

"Every minute that passes, they must watch their backs.Although it go live at the end of the world, you can never be calm , "he said. Has also predicted that someday someone will kill them and that she will support their murderers if a trial is held ,"said Denise Bulger. In an interview publishedthe  Daily Mail , Denise (now surnamed Fergus)comenta:  " No I speak of the death penalty, but I think they are going to die because there are people who will kill them. " the mother of James Bulger, who still declares  " full of hatred, anger and fear " years after the death of his son, He believes Venables and Robert Thompson Jon will eventually be found despite the new identity they have and protecting their anonymity. "And if someone kills them , I will be at her side in court to say, 'The government is responsible because it only supports the murderers' . One day, a gun will point to them, even if it is I who hold " . They are no Jon Venables and Robert Thompson, but, basically, and will remain forever murderers of James Bulger's.

Jon Venables, RETURNS TO PRISON 

On March 3rd, 2010, Jon Venables, now twenty - seven, he was imprisoned again. Interior Minister Alan Johnson said he could not give details of the reasons that led to the re - imprisonment of Venables. "You will know I can not do anything but confirm the fact that Jon Venables is imprisoned again. I spoke today with (Justice Minister) Jack Straw and of course we understand that the public wants to know more about this issue , " he said Johnson.

Holders on the return of Jon Venables to prison (click images to enlarge)

A Justice Ministry spokesman said that "offenders on probation are subject to strict conditions if they are violated involve an immediate review" . The spokesman also explained that  "there is an international injunction that prohibits publishing any information, including via the Internet, you can identify them or locate them " .

Over the days, it transpired the cause of rearrest: Jon Venables had taken to using alcohol and drugs, put your identity at risk or even to disclose, and the worst: he collected child pornography. Your computer was full of such materials. Denise Fergus, mother of James Bulger said after hearing the news of imprisonment Venables  "has returned to where it should be: behind bars."