this murder case is one that gripped me for a long period of time because it's hard to fathom how - 10 year-old children could do something so evil as what they did to the poor 2 year old victim and I warn you this case is quite distressing the murder of James Bulger on the afternoon of the 12th of February 1993 Jon Venables and Robert Thompson decided to skip school and they made their way to the new strand shopping center in butell which is near the pool they were seen stealing various items sweets a troll doll some batteries and a can of blue pens at some point Thompson Venables had attempted to lead away a two-year-old boy but their attempt was foiled by the boy's parents this however wouldn't stop them later on as they would find a new victim on that very afternoon Denis Bulger and her son James were shopping in a new strand shopping center - and on this day Denis had decided not to use the pushchair for James a decision which haunted her for years to come they went into a butcher's shop and whilst there Denis turned for a few seconds to make a transaction and when she turned back she was faced with every mother's worst nightmare her child had vanished Denis panicked and she ran out of the store looking for James and she turned left there are many what-ifs that haunt James's mother but the biggest one is that if she had turned right instead of left James could still be alive today for reasons that still remain in play today Jon Venables and Robert Thompson had taken James by the hand and she was running in the opposite direction to them James's mother found a security guard and she described her son and what he was wearing and they quickly announced the boy's name on the tan but there was no sign of James and he was reported missing to the police but by this time James had already left the mall and the boys would later confess that James was crying out for his mother for almost the entire time but they just ignored his cries and they continued to take him down to a secluded canal a total of 38 people witnessed / James being led away by the boys and frustratingly they did nothing when they reached the canal they picked up James and they dropped him on his head and then they left him on the ground crying a woman happened to be passing by and she noticed James crying on the floor and what she said she just walked on and did nothing what's heartbreaking is that Jim still followed the boys when they called him to come at this point James's forehead was bruised and he had a cut - the boys pulled the hood of the toddler's coat over his head to hide the injuries some eyewitnesses saw James his forehead injury as they passed by but they didn't think anything of it they just assumed that the boys were playing together and that James must have got a little bump on his head one other person reported that they saw a tear on James's cheek but again they did nothing - they even took James down one of the busiest streets in Liverpool and their witnesses say they saw Thompson kick Jim's in the ribs for resisting and screaming for his mother there's one that shocked me the most a woman saw Thompson punched James violently and shake him but she just drew her curtains to block out the site where people say inviting someone to this and someone to that well you know now the guilt the guilt spare I think I forget thank you I've seen them I hate the baby crying and I watched them oh god I watched them I've got a look at this window every day baby biscuit James was nearly saved by two women who stopped and questioned two boys but they just said that they had found him at the bottom of the hill the woman told them to take James to a nearby police station the woman was still concerned and she contemplated going back and intervening but another woman insisted that she saw James laughing just a few minutes before so this made the woman feel relieved and she went on with her day and later on she would discover the chilling news that James was missing she phoned the police and she expressed how upset she was as herself for not intervening and she gave some information to the police and the last woman who came so close to saving James saw the boys and told them that she was going to take him to the police station herself she turned to a woman who was nearby and she asked her to look after her daughter while she took James to safety but the woman refused saying that her dog didn't like children very much and in that short exchange they had managed to slip away and get away with James it's hard to think about how close Jim foster being saved multiple times anyways if they managed to make their way to the privacy of a deserted railway and that's where the torture began they through the blue pin they had stolen into James's left eye they stamped on him and kicked him and threw bricks and stones at him they've stuffed batteries into his mouth and although none were found police suspect they were inserted into his ear as to they also beat him with an iron bar they found I've also heard that's a lot of the things that were done to James were covered up as it was too disturbing to disclose to the public Jim suffered 10 skull fractures from being hit in the head with the iron bar and 42 injuries in total he was so badly beaten if they couldn't even determine what the fatal blow was they wet his head down with rubble in hopes that a trend would hit him and make his death look like an accident after they left the scene his body was cut in half by a train bulges severed body would be discovered two days later on the 14th of February reports said that he was likely killed before the train even hit him and what sickens me too is that the police suspect that James was possibly sexually assaulted too since his shoes socks trousers and Underpants had been removed this was all soon to be discovered but in the meantime their parents were considered to be suspects at first that was until the CCTV footage was discovered and that's when it became nationwide news when James's dad saw the footage and seeing James with two young boys he was certain he would see his son again he said in an interview that he looked at Denise and smiled with relief and said he is going to be all right Denise he's with two young kids he's gonna be alright the search ended just two days after James had vanished when four children were playing on the railway tracks and they discovered James's body just 200 yards from the police station a breakthrough came when a woman saw the enhanced images of the two boys and she instantly recognized Jon Venables and she even knew that he had skipped school that day with Robert Thompson she swiftly made contact with the police and the boys were arrested and interviewed the interviewers were initially shocked as they were looking for boys around the age of 13 to 16 and they didn't expect the boys to be just 10 years of age here are the real interviews conducted by the Merseyside Police he said that the two of you were in this run and if you saw the little boy me neither me neither of the God's honest truth God's honest truth you tell me the me never it's too scared you're probably too scared and you said you're talking by the hand and led him out of the strong shops yeah we was but we never saw any kids there never don't any clips so you weren't in poo from his family what's you in Boothville strength ask you not to go I'm gonna do it a short while ago as is detailed on your custody record out there he had a conversation with your mom and you then requested that myself and Dave Tanner come into the room is that right yeah what was it you told us why do these I must make him fall over yeah so he's saying he could look the same house look at him full in the face and he didn't fall over yeah you should kept on getting the hope again you wouldn't stay down what would saying wow that was didn't hold it down why did he wants him to stay down probably Doctore walking around with ammonite chakras hammered on these ideas it's a war zone then it was Roberts idea to kill I mean we're not chatted to pan out before don't know we should let him throw him in the water it was persuade new pitch at kneel down let's look at the water in all that bull he wouldn't because when we wouldn't get him down rather picked him up and threw him on the floor and that's where he got his bump on his head [Music] you know everything that goes on I know the blame [Music] just calm yourself down boom it's okay all right yeah you said they went so smooth so what what did you say so what did you say yep welcome to triumph and us mom where did you leave me that's a fireplace I don't believe you will elect in that you took him away from the reservoir is and walked out someone else we're going towards a station you're saying I've got blood and these really kids our faith James you think it's not the truth what were you with with John we're not happen [Music] - top right we've got we're getting there evidence was stacking up against the two boys forensic tests were carried out and they found that the boys had the same blue pin on their clothing that was found on James's body along with blood on their shoes which was confirmed to be James's gems had also been kicked in the face so hard that it left a boot mark on his face and that boom mark matched up with Roberts boot the two boys were interviewed separately by the police and both John and Robert Blimpo on an other for the shocking crime it took some time but eventually Venables crumbled and he confessed to his part of the killing and when he confessed he begged the detectives to tell James's mum that he was sorry however Robert Thompson denied everything until he accidentally slipped up and gave a detailed account of what James was wearing and the trial would soon begin the boys were charged with murder on the 20th of February 1993 and were held in custody until their trial which would be in nine months during their trial Robert Thompson was referred to as child a and John was referred to as child be awaiting their trial they were held in secure units and the parents of the two boys had to be moved to different parts of the country and were given new identities - due to the credible death threats from vigilantes around five hundred protesters gathered during the boys at court appearance which began on the 1st of november 1993 and they also called for the blood of the two killers each boy had to sit on raised chairs so they could see out of the dock and that was designed for adults it was thought that Thompson was the instigator in this murder and that Venables was led astray by him this was because Robert didn't really show any signs of remorse but the psychiatrist determined that the two boys weren't sociopaths and that they did indeed know right from wrong but even still we know absolutely nothing about what motivated these boys to kill and to do it so brutally they were both found guilty and were the youngest killers Britain had seen in over 250 years they were given an 8-year sentence and after they served the time Venables and Thompson's behavior would be assessed and they showed no violent behavior in prison so where are they now well and they could be anywhere upon their release Jon Venables and Robert Thomson were given new identities and were given legal anonymity for life in case people found the killers and decided to take vengeance but let's start with Jon Venables the one who was seen as the child who was egged on to do what he did in 2010 he was arrested in sent back to prison again though at first it was not revealed what he had done it later came out that he was charged with a possession and distribution of child pornography he was constantly being monitored by probation officers yet he managed to download fifty-seven pictures that depicted horrific assaults on children as young as two he was caught when he tried to destroy his hard drive using a knife his probation officer took the computer away which led them to discovering the images he was released again in September 2013 and then it came out that he actually had broken the terms of his probation on more than one occasion he was arrested in 2008 for having a drunken street fight with another man he was also caught in possession of cocaine and it's also Kim Alta in 2001 when Venables was 17 he had a relationship with a female worker at his secure units which resulted in her losing his job he also excessively drunk and took drugs which was against the terms of his probation he has also told friends of his identity on two separate occasions and has had to be given multiple new identities which cost the taxpayers a lot of money he was also arrested again in 2018 for the same crime indecent pictures of children and he has recently been released and it's thought he is now living in Australia on New Zealand and what I found most chilling is that he even had a job in the UK working at Pizza Hut which of course is a common restaurant for children to go to and us for Robert Thompson not much is really known he's believed to be living a quiet life with his boyfriend somewhere in the country and his boyfriend is aware of his dark past the two boys were not allowed to meet after their release and it's likely they will never meet each other ever again it's been 28 years since James was killed he was only one month shy of his 3rd birthday when he was abducted