susan venables pictures

He didn't want to hurt James. Many of us had dined together most nights throughout the trial, mulling it all over but distracting ourselves, too. He carried books on wrestling and wildlife in his school bag. . More often, he would pinch them from local shops. Such a childish voice. A heartstopping moment came when the playing of the tapes in court was paused. Mr Venables said: "He wouldn't watch horror. Venables was caught with 1,170 indecent photos of children on his laptop, the Old Bailey was told. Not surprisingly, Ann had also attempted suicide in the same manner, some months before. I know how I feel as a mother. Ann and Bobby fought regularly in front of the children, with virtually all of the fights leading to physical violence. His mother was not so keen on the idea - they cost pounds 35 each. Im bringing them up on my own, but if I went round and screwed every warehouse, my kids would have everything, too. Even so, while Roberts community was rough, his home life was perhaps worse, and could hardly be considered a refuge for the boy. Nicola had to exchange some clothes at TJ Hughes, Denise waited nearby, watching the children. She acknowledged her son had committed a terrible crime but claimed that her innocent younger children were being denied a proper education because of having to abandon their homes to escape attacks. Weeping, she said: 'I wasn't actually on the railway track because there is a fence, but I went up the side. Superintendent Kirby is a religious man. The first Susan Venables knew they had stayed away from school was when she saw one of Jon's classmates on her way home with the gerbils. They deal with drugs, they deal with everything. 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. The right will draw attention to the broken homes, the single parents, the persistent truancy. From their point of view it makes perfect sense. The detective explained how, before she left, she soothed him, told him his parents would love him whatever he told the police, reminding him that Denise neededto know what had happened to her baby. I suspect she still feels that., In 2001 there was a renewed uproar over the case when it emerged that the killers were to be freed, despite a. recommendation by the trial judge that they should remain behind bars for a very long time. 'They were just your average scruff - like the rest of us.'. Robert's mother agreed with her son's assessment: 'Name one family in the area who would have a good word for us.'. His mother gave him pocket money to buy them. The taunts upset Jons already volatile temper, and he began coming home in increasingly low spirits and crying. But talking in 1993, his mother tried to explain how her child turned into a murderer. Then between 1990 and 1991, Jons teachers recognized a dramatic change in the boys behavior, which was alarming enough for one of his teachers to begin keeping a daily log. On November 24, 1993, the two boys, by then aged 11, became the youngest defendants to be sentenced for murder in a British court. Mrs Venables described how she searched for Jon. Or by navigating to the user icon in the top right. James Bulger would now be weeks away from his 23rd birthday. The boys at Dyson Hall were the object of some envy among their mates because they were given tracksuits and trainers upon arrival and went on trips to Alton Towers. At his first primary school the headmistress referred him to a psychologist, noting how he used to bang his head against the classroom wall to gain attention. They fled the city, never to return. Jon was also mad on computers. Just as Venables's confession convicted him, a shoe print belonging to Robert Thompson, found on James cheekbone, confirmed his guilt, too. wo. Mr Venables ran out of the car and grabbed him, while Robert ran off down the street laughing and shouting: 'You can't catch me.'. Susan Venables's bent body shrank deeper into itself. 'I couldn't hear anything,' she said. He would throw things at other children, cut himself deliberately with scissors and stick paper all over his face. In all, they played truant four times. Once Robert shared with him a tin of Roses chocolates which he had poured surreptitiously into his coat pocket. Susan Venables Facebook: susan.venables.9 Lives in Mellor, Blackburn With Darwen, . A police officer remembered Venables being so small that his legs didn't touch the floor as he sat in the custody office after his arrest. He was fearful of the other boy. She was a happy baby, much happier than her eldest brother had been, but as she grew older, Susan began noticing that she, too, appeared lazy, and was not as advanced as Jon. What's the least amount of exercise we can get away with? The haunting words of Jon Venables' parents only interview have resurfaced, twenty five years after he killed tot Jamie Bulger. sons, were settled in council houses within easy reach of the institutions where their sons were being held. This would have put Jon in a particularly arduous position, as the couples only excelling child, and as author Gitta Sereny observed from her time spent with the Venables in 1994, forcing this middle child, Jon, for a long time, perhaps unconsciously, to compensate his mother for her two problem children, put an enormous weight of responsibility on this child virtually from the time he was born., As Susan struggled to manage her two disadvantaged children day to day, Neil was the familys breadwinner, working as a forklift driver. . 'His mum was more strict. Ann tried to discourage this by hiding his shoes, or by taking him down to the Walton Lane police station and having the officer on duty frighten him into compliance, but to no avail. Jon's parents said they talked to their son about James after he was arrested, but had to stop. Everyone called him Chubby, because of his round, cherub's face. ANN THOMPSON, the mother of Robert Thompson, child A, says her son is a thief, a liar, is devious and plays truant. Witness after witness who had seen them, or stopped and asked them what was going on, took the stand. Reporters from around the world ended up in the drab streets of Walton, cadging interviews off any 10-year-old boys hanging around in the streets. Get out and get into Dyson Hall children's centre, the only residential care school in the country just outside Liverpool. James mother Denise Fergus has been saying this for a long time, but still we hoped that the boy who savaged a tiny child to death could become a man safe to be in our midst. gl. It is here, of course, that Jon met and made friends with fellow eccentric, Robert Thompson. His mother, Susan, attributed this behavior with peer pressure and hyperactivity, and put him on a special diet, though it did nothing to quell his frequent emotional outbursts. Can Nigeria's election result be overturned? The days James was abducted, February 12 1993, I was a young reporter in my home city of Liverpool. 'Sometimes I told Robbie to do things so he does,' he told a police officer, with pride in his voice. Sitting in the new class was a chubby boy with a cherub's face - Robert Thompson. A sudden pause in the tapes and one of the officers appeared in person to describe how he asked Neil and Susan Venables to leave the room because he thought Jon wanted to tell him something. One woman asked how James had injured his forehead. Since his 14-year-old brother, Phillip , had already tried to stab him, the social services agreed. Friday 12th February 1993. 'In my opinion he was victimised. Just having a bit of shade!! The questioning was calm, steady, even playful at the beginning to try to get a sense the two boys really did know the difference between right and wrong. The breaking point came when Jon was suspended from Broad Square after attempting to choke a classmate with a twelve-inch wooden ruler. His father, thin and balding, had a much gentler edge. 'I don't know,' he replied. The left will make play of social deprivation, unemployment, bad housing and general inner-city rot. IN their interviews with the two boys, psychiatrists could find no clues to why the boys acted so violently. The atmosphere in the courtroom was oppressive as the tension of a month was about to break. One day they stayed out until 10.30pm and Jon received a severe reprimand from his mother. This would have been at about 5.30pm - just the time the boys were about to begin killing Jamie. The fathers of both Robert and Jon were without work. Not their punishmentand exclusion from society for the rest of their childhood. Mrs Venables has also said that she felt. Kids fantasise about such things. The pattern of bullying among the brothers, which had been noted by the Head mistress of the boys school, appeared to descend down the line, with the eldest Thompson brother beating the one just below him in age, and that brother beating the brother below him, in turn. For she added: 'But he's not a murderer.'. Like Ann Thompson, however, both parents of Jon Venables rallied round their son and in preparationfor his release Mr Venables accom-panied him on trips to football matches. "All he said when we've said 'Why didn't you run away?' The family was put up in a hostel temporarily and later relocated by the social services. But that is the common lot of thousands of 10-year-olds who have not turned into murderers. "All he said when we've said 'Why didn't you run away?' They would sneak out during the morning break, hiding behind a wall before the coast was clear. It was this empowering chemistry between them that some argued set into motion the life-altering events that would devastate a family, challenge a community, and rock a nations core in the disquieting months that followed. He has had security with loving parents and a loving brother and sister.". Then there were the separated parents, the poverty, the truanting, the videos. The end of the court case was not the end of course. She found it hard bringing the kids up in the neighbourhood. Jon Venables said the class teacher tried to entice Robert by offering him a prize for a week's continual attendance - he did, but the prize never came. Thompson and Venables, now both 27 years old, are among only four individuals in the UK whose crimes are so notorious that they have been given lifelong anonymity. His parents say he is 'broken-hearted'. In the mean time, Susan, finding her new living conditions insufferable, soon decided to move back in with Neil until she could find another place of her own. Good people asked the boys if they were lost or urged them to take "their baby brother" home as he cried for his mummy. Pictures; Inside the Guardian; Guardian Weekly . Profile: Jon Venables - BBC News Jon breaks into hysteria whenever the subject is mentioned. I wish we could turn the clocks back," Mrs Venablessaid. She said an educational psychologist had diagnosed hyperactivity in her son, who was bullied at his previous school. JON Venables's family was far from affluent, but it was not as close to the breadline as Robert's. I am providing this page for those who are interested in learning more about the lives of these boys prior to their offense. Neil Venables, 40, said he felt "just devastated, thinking of that little boy'. Venables served seven years of a life sentence for the 1993 murder before he was freed in June 2001, aged 18. 'I think about little James and what he must have gone through, how they must feel. Read about our approach to external linking. "He tends to be a bit hyperactive so his concentration did go a bit, but apart from that he is quite bright, no worries.". Twenty-five years on, Im still prone to hot tears at the memory of it all and I do question the trial. "It is hard to take in really. Guilty of abducting and murdering James PatrickBulger. It was so stressful trying to contain him. portrayed him as the leader and evil one, says James Smith. I got on with my job, but months later the impact of that trial had sunk in and a difficult, tearful, confusing year followed for me. fun to be with". Will you tell his mum I'm sorry?". He was fearful of the other boy. It is just heartbreaking.". For his parents, the fact they were children was actually a cause for hope at that point. "It is hard to take in really. She said that Jon was always "loving, caring, thoughtful and considerate . But curiosity drew him towards Robert in equal measure. I wish we could turn the clocks back,' Mrs Venables, 36, said. Parents who stand by James's killers - Express.co.uk It was their sons picked up by detectives. The guilty verdicts came quickly - within five hours. 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". Venables and Thompson abducted, tortured and killed two-year-old James in Liverpool in 1993 when they were both aged just 10. his killers were just 10 years old and attention focused on their upbringing and dysfunctional home life. I dont think she saw a very happy future., The author says there was no contact with the Venables family after the trial as Mrs Thompson focused, her energy on supporting her son, refusing to accept he was a monster. They looked, moved, fidgeted, scratched, cried - even sucked their thumbs - just like any 11-year-olds. ql zo. By now the two boys from Walton were part of an international freak show. Neighbors later reported that it wasnt uncommon for Robert to be seen wandering the streets of Walton after midnight, since he was always running off at night. That's the thing that upsets me because obviously, where I was standing poor little James must have been not far . The reaction prompted James' mum Denise Fergus to let supporters know she had nothing to do with the programme. 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. Haunting words of killer Jon Venables' parents resurface on 25th She said that Jon was always "loving, caring, thoughtful and considerate . He did like to be liked, and loved to have friends, and he has got involved with the wrong person.". Most people would regard such sentiments as having come rather late in the day and certainly too late to save poor James. One of the focal points of the local community was QD Videos at the bottom of Robert's street, where the kids would browse through the horror stacks, discussing their favourites knowledgeably. . Denise Fergus is the same age as me, a fact I only registered when I met her for the first time two weeks ago. There is, like, a little paint factory. Thousands of members of Unison, Unite and the GMB unions are set to walk out across England and Wales on Monday as part of continued industrial action in the health service, Performers taking part in a parade involving costumes, lion dances and floats, during Chinese New Year celebrations in London, Everton fans hold up banners protesting against the board of directors during their Premier League match against West Ham at the London Stadium, A pair of swans fly over a frozen pond in Bushy Park in London, People take part in a demonstration in support of trans rights outside the UK Government Office in Edinburgh, A member of the Royal College of Nursing holds their dog whilst on the picket line outside Kings College Hospital in London, as nurses take industrial action over pay, The scene on the A39 Quantock Road in Bridgwater after a double-decker bus overturned in a crash involving a motorcycle, A man walks dogs in snowy conditions in a park in Hexham. Their parents entered the courtroom; The Venables arrived together, Ann Thompson came with supporters but no sign of Robert's father. Susan opted to remove him from the school then, and some months later, she reenrolled him in St. Marys in Walton. Wiping away tears, he went on: 'I feel for that family. We have found 88 people in the UK with the name Susan Venables. There was a pattern of bullying, with the older boys picking on their younger brothers down the line. By now, Robert had also stepped comfortably into the role of the aggressor, and, following in the footsteps of his elder brothers, began tormenting his eight-year-old brother on a daily basis. ", Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies. Our feelings haven't changed towards him. Were they to blame? They and Ann Thompson, who has six other. This story has no borders,' NBC correspondent Denis Murphy said. I remember watching her then on TV, her sobbing plea for information and thinking how much guts it must have taken to get up that day and face a roomful of journalists and photographers. But then, the whole of Robert's family was a bit like that - shunned, outcast, the butt of local criticism, and very well known to police. They saw it with their eyes. . Extraordinarily, she even shouted up to the railway tracks at Walton where she knew Robert had a den. It emerged that the Venables family had suffered the same fate in another area. 'I thought he was all right,' said Boy B, as he was known in court - Jon Venables. She would arrive at the secure unit with food parcels and is said to be proud of his achievements since the crime. At the end of the street a mesh wire frame coverered the window of the money lenders. I would get him something like a cartoon.". Murder of James Bulger. Mr Venables said it had never crossed their minds that the video pictures from the security cameras in the shopping centre from which James went missing showed their own son. He would call people names and get them to chase him. The toddler's mum Denise Bulger was at the counter of a butchers in the Strand shopping centre in Bootle, Liverpool, on February 12, 1993, when she briefly let go of her son's hand to get some change from her purse. "My heart really goes out to them. Mrs Thompson worked as an office cleaner until two years ago, when she got pregnant again by another man, who also left her. It was not until much later, when questioned as to his involvement in the death of James Bulger, that Roberts resentment towards the new baby became suddenly and painfully apparent. I didnt, did I? she said to Neil during their interview with Gitta Sereny. 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 said their son met Robert Thompson in September 1991, when Jon was transferred from another school. Last November he was arrested and recalled to jail on suspicion of possession of images of child sex abuse. Instead, she was involved in an ITV documentary with Sir Trevor McDonald that will air on Thursday. "Just to let you know that even though footage was used of me on the CH4 programme, I had no part in it," she tweeted. For a start, there were only three children, of whom Jon was the middle. ', The closest either boy came to offering an explanation was when Jon was asked by police why he had taken James's shoe off by the railway tracks. But he is not a murderer. Thompson was inscrutable in the dock as we heard his voice for the first time. As a grim portrait of abuse, drunkenness and neglect emerged, the hatred and loathing for Robert Thompson and Jon Venables was also turned on their parents. She was prone to hysteria and hailed from a 'strict and disciplined' background. View the profiles of people named Susan Venables. That's the thing that upsets me because obviously where I was standing poor little James must have been not. Both of them struggled at school and had been lumped into the year below their age. I wasnt on duty that day, so the very beginnings of the story washed over me. He was too scared to be naughty on his own. Nine months later, I was one of 30 or so journalists inside Preston Crown Court when the trial began. On one occasion, he said, Robert ran off down the street laughing, "You can't catch me". One investigating police officer said: 'You could look into the eyes of Robert and knew you were looking at evil.' But just as he was entering the school gates he met Jon and they decided to sag off together for the fourth - and final - time. "In terms of knowing what the full consequences of your actions are, you are into older childhood or adolescence. It has already been reported that Jon Venables real identity has been exposed in prison, where he is said to be receiving 24-hour protection. Thompson admitted nothing. Once he stole decorating borders from a DIY shop which he discarded at regular intervals to mark his way home. 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. He has had more love and attention than a lot of children I know. Nature. Denise was in court that day. When they finally came to a disused railway track near the police station, the murderous duo tortured James, throwing stones and bricks at the baby, and kicking and stamping on him before finally dropping a heavy iron bar on to the defenceless tot. sp. The couple was financially strained from the start, but Ann did what she could to make it work. David Sharrock, Maggie O'Kane, and Edward Pilkington look at the lives of the rebels who turned to killing, Original reporting and incisive analysis, direct from the Guardian every morning. Neil Venables regarded himself as the Barry Norman of Merseyside - a film buff with a penchant for horror. Sandra Gotheridge. Susan, aged 36, a sharp woman . Ann, desperate to escape the physical and emotional torment of living with her drunken father, was married to Robert, Sr. in December 1971, on the day of her eighteenth birthday. Robert would give Jon presents of stolen objects: trolls, of course, toy terrapins, sweets. At night, for instance, the two boys would lie in bed together and suck each others thumbs. Ann Thompson and Susan and Neil Venables didn't need to imagine. Spidery and messy. Why would I want to kill him? he said, referring to the slain toddler. 'I was the softie,' Neil Venables said. Venables, who was released on licence in 2001 after serving eight years for the murder of two-year-old James, was returned to prison last November after he was caught with the pictures.

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