Bulger being abducted by Thompson (in front of Bulger) and Venables (holding Bulger's hand) in an image captured on shopping centre CCTV
Location
Walton, Liverpool, England
Date
12 February 1993; 31 years ago (1993-02-12)
Attack type
Child-on-child murder by bludgeoning, torture murder, kidnapping, mutilation, dismemberment
Weapons
Bricks, stones, a fishplate, others
Victim
James Patrick Bulger, aged 2
Burial
Kirkdale Cemetery, Fazakerley, Liverpool[1]
Perpetrators
Robert Thompson
Jon Venables
Motive
Inconclusive
Verdict
Guilty
Convictions
Murder, abduction
Sentence
Indefinite sentence in juvenile detention (paroled after 8 years)
On 12 February 1993 in Merseyside, two 10-year-old boys Robert Thompson (born 23 August 1982) and Jon Venables (born 13 August 1982), abducted, tortured, and murdered a two-year-old boy, James Patrick Bulger (16 March 1990[2] – 12 February 1993).[3][4] Thompson and Venables led Bulger away from the New Strand Shopping Centre in Bootle, after his mother had taken her eyes off him momentarily. His mutilated body was found on a railway line two and a half miles (four kilometres) away in Walton, Liverpool, two days later.
Thompson and Venables were charged on 20 February 1993 with abduction and murder. They were found guilty on 24 November, making them the youngest convicted murderers in modern British history. They were sentenced to indefinite detention at Her Majesty's pleasure, and remained in custody until a Parole Board decision in June 2001 recommended their release on a lifelong licence at age 18.[5] Venables was sent to prison in 2010 for breaching the terms of his licence, was released on parole again in 2013, and in November 2017 was again sent to prison for possessing child sexual abuse images on his computer. He remains in prison in 2023 after his appeals for parole were rejected.
The Bulger case has prompted widespread debate about how to handle young offenders when they are sentenced or released from custody.[6][7]
^Paterson, Stewart (26 November 2017). "James Bulger's father demands son's killer Jon Venables is stripped of anonymity". Archived from the original on 11 April 2019. Retrieved 30 August 2020 – via www.nzherald.co.nz.
^"The killers and the victims". CNN. 22 June 2001. Archived from the original on 28 March 2010. Retrieved 8 March 2010.
^"Thompson & Venables Recommendations as to Tariffs to the Secretary of State for Home Affairs". 26 October 2000. Archived from the original on 26 December 2005.
^Smith, David James (3 April 2011). "The Secret Life of a Killer" (PDF). The Sunday Times Magazine: 22–34. Archived from the original (PDF) on 12 November 2013.
^"Bulger killers to be released on parole". The Independent. 22 June 2001. Archived from the original on 8 February 2018. Retrieved 7 February 2018.
^Firth, Paul (3 March 2010). "A question of release and redemption as Bulger killer goes back into custody". Yorkshire Post. Johnston Press. Retrieved 8 March 2010.
^Taylor, Anna-Louise (21 April 2011). "How should young killers be treated?". BBC. Archived from the original on 22 April 2011.
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