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. Mr Venables said: "He wouldn't watch horror. Everton was his team. TWO BOYS. Asked later if he could recall a time when his brother had exhibited any unusually aggressive tendencies, Roberts brother said no: Hes frightened of his own shadow. Nonetheless, in hindsight, its safe to assume that by 1993, ten-year-old Robert was swiftly approaching crisis point., Alarmingly, some of the neighboring children later claimed to have seen Robert behave cruelly towards animals, and pull the heads off of baby pigeons, although this was never unequivocally confirmed. Sitting in the new class was a chubby boy with a cherub's face - Robert Thompson. He was fearful, he was weak and he was provoked. During that time, Susan felt as if she was trapped and overburdened, often taking her frustrations out on her husband, who believed it was her responsibility to take care of the children, and offered her little support in the way of childrearing. ", Her husband, Neil, said: "If you had a league table of children, you would put him at the bottom of the list for anything like this.". His mother called him hyperactive since, even more than his friend, he was scarcely able to sit still. It is here, of course, that Jon met and made friends with fellow eccentric, Robert Thompson. The two bumped into each other - literally - in the school playground in the middle of a fight. He appears to be a normal human, but inside the soft flesh there is indestructable metal. What happened to James Bulger? Venables was a different creature. While both boys may have felt helpless and inferior in their own settings, together they were fearless, a portrait of machismo, each playing on the others strong points. He is broken- hearted over it. His mother cared about him. Something went wrong, please try again later. Mrs Venables described how she searched for Jon. What doing well means is anybodys guess. Neil Venables regarded himself as the Barry Norman of Merseyside - a film buff with a penchant for horror. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. his killers were just 10 years old and attention focused on their upbringing and dysfunctional home life. The prosecution, led by Richard Henriques QC, made its case quite simply really, using the journey they took James on to tell the story. "Youngsters are usually tried in a youth court, [Thompson and Venables] were tried in an adult court. Wiping away tears, he went on: 'I feel for that family. "BULL**** about 'two frightened kids whod made a terrible mistake' The tapes said they kept stoning him, even when he kept getting up. Money was always a struggle, and she got through the first years drinking in Higson's Top House off St Mary's Lane. After spending just eight years in custody, Britain's youngest killers were released and given lifetime anonymity in the UK. The base of the dock floor at Preston Crown Court had to be raised 18 inches so each boy could see over it. I would get him something like a cartoon.". I am not sure if in fact he was seen by the school psychologist, but I did complete a form for him.. The appearance in court this week of Venables, now a 35-year-old man, on charges of possessing indecent images of children, was a jarring reminder that, still a quarter of a century on, his rehabilitation is more an ambition than a reality. One neighbour said she always let him into her home whenever his mother was out. One police officer described how Jon Venables was so small, his legs were swinging. It was so stressful trying to contain him. His mother was not so keen on the idea - they cost pounds 35 each. And in Lower Lane police station when he was being questioned about the murder she had to be told that her harsh words were inhibiting him from confessing. The sunrises through the sea mist over the sculpture The Couple by Sean Henry at Newbiggin-by-the-Sea on the Northumberland coast. Absence of a male role model is increasingly being explored - by both left and right - as one of the main reasons why today's boys and young men are going wrong; why 90 per cent of indictable offences are committed by men. He would go to bed. 'It was very dark and I shouted down, shouted his name. Extraordinarily, she even shouted up to the railway tracks at Walton where she knew Robert had a den. Good people asked the boys if they were lost or urged them to take "their baby brother" home as he cried for his mummy. Following the arrest of their sons it was reported that the mothers of the boys had been attacked and vilified in. "Contrary to what the papers will tell you, he is not a little urchin boy. By now the two boys from Walton were part of an international freak show. To widespread dismay and condemnation from the Bulger family, the killers were given new identities, courtesy of the taxpayer. He would steal objects that he neither needed nor wanted, then chuck them away in the street. He was also given 'respite care' - six weekly weekend breaks to relieve the family of the burden of looking after him. this weekend for breaching the terms of his early release, the parents of both the Bulger killers continue to stand by them. Channel 5 is set to air a new two-part documentary that tells the definitive story of . Teachers later reported that whereas the boys were manageable when separated, together their behavior worsened dramatically. They looked, moved, fidgeted, scratched, cried - even sucked their thumbs - just like any 11-year-olds. . In Crosbies corner shop Ian, the next oldest to Robert, was able to tot up the shopping in his mind before the cash register rang up the total. Dudson was given a minimum term of 18 years. Jon was slim in build and taller than Robert, just over five feet. More press conferences, terrible details beginning to emerge about the state James was found in, and the chilling prospect, soon confirmed, that indeed it was children who had done this. They had much in common. For his parents, the fact they were children was actually a cause for hope at that point. Susan Venables, now 53, suffered from severe depres-sion and struggled with her two other children, an older son and younger daughter, who suffered learning difficulties. The hardliners in the police have a simpler explanation. James Bulger would now be weeks away from his 23rd birthday. But talking in 1993, his mother tried to explain how her child turned into a murderer. The Crown Prosecution Service released a statement in January confirming Venables had been charged. I do believe that she feels guilty deep down for her own part in what happened., Despite the risks of discovery, the relationship is said to have contin- ued to thrive following Thompsons. 'It's always our family that gets the blame,' Robert said to police after he was arrested for James's murder. Half way through the 1992-1993 school year, Robert had already racked up nearly 50 unauthorized absences, and was falling significantly behind in his schoolwork. Neil had been laid off in the months prior, so the couple sold their home, and Neil moved back in with his father, before finally relocating to an apartment in Kirkdale. It seems likely that he was bullied. Susan seemed happy with the arrangement, although, for the children, this type of relationship would have been just one more confusing anomaly to cope with in the wake of an already confusing time in their young lives. - a grey heron in Asawn, Southern Egypt. When the court was played Jon's taped descriptions of how they had truanted they simultaneously smiled. The abduction and brutal murder of this two-year-old by Robert Thompson and Jon Venables, who were just 10 at the time, prompted a conversation in Britain that we are still having today. Still, despite being clearly intimidated by him, Roberts brother appeared to share a strangely intimate bond with him. When shop keepers asked what they were doing they would pretend they were waiting for their mum. 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. It was to be an adult trial, both boys appearing every day in the full gaze of whoever was in that room, but neither giving evidence directly to the court. Englands Ollie Chessum dives in to score his sides second try during the Guinness Six Nations match at Twickenham Stadium, London, Sam Smith arrives for the Brit Awards ceremony, A robin redbreast takes flight in Dublins botanic gardens. Ironically, Jon was the child who caused his parents least anxiety. Robert's feelings towards his half-brother also appear to have been ambivalent - he told police he would not have murdered James Bulger because 'if I wanted to kill a baby, I'd kill my own, wouldn't I?'. According to the teacher, Jon would rock back and forth in his desk, making strange noises (this behavior was later speculated to be Jons jealous attempt to emulate his elder brother, in order to receive the same special attention), bang his head on the desk or walls repeatedly, glue bits of paper all over his face, wedge himself in between desks, throw himself on the ground, throw chairs across the corridor, rip projects off the classroom walls, cut holes in his socks, and intentionally cut himself with scissors. Little Bobby went to visit his brothers every so often, eager to show them the latest playthings he had robbed from the assorted shops nearby. The right will draw attention to the broken homes, the single parents, the persistent truancy. As the paedophile killer pleaded guilty on Wednesday to possessing more than 1,000 indecent images of children and a "paedo manual" - his parents words on their son's involvement make disturbing reading. Seeing at first hand the pain of a family who have lost a toddler to an act of brutal violence is almost unbearably moving. On Sundays he used to watch Thunderbirds. Then there were the separated parents, the poverty, the truanting, the videos. David James Smith, who wrote a book about the Bulger case, The Sleep Of Reason, and stayed in touch with Ann Thompson afterwards. Tweet. As his killers began their sentences, such was the revulsion that it was already clear their families could not. I wasnt on duty that day, so the very beginnings of the story washed over me. It would be a week before we heard their voices, in hours of taped police interviews, They stopped us all in our tracks. One of the new works by Banksy, appears to show a 1950s housewife, wearing a classic blue pinny and yellow washing up gloves, with a swollen eye and a missing tooth seemingly shoving her male partner into a chest freezer, the piece is set on a white wall backdrop in Kent. This time we came together in shock and disbelief. Two boys who forged a friendship out of breaking the rules. Get the biggest TV headlines, recaps and insider knowledge straight to your inbox. The best instincts led hundreds, including me, to lay flowers a few days later at the site of James horrific end. Susan Venables has blamed "weakness" for her son's role in the killing of James Bulger, claiming that he "got involved with the wrong person". Words with the drawing, full of spelling mistakes and grammatical.