Killers By 10: The Murder of James Bulger

WEBVTT

1
00:00:13.039 --> 00:00:37.520
Discretion is advised. This is ten
minute murder. John Venables and Robert Thompson

2
00:00:37.679 --> 00:00:41.799
were released from a British detention facility
in two thousand and one, when they

3
00:00:41.799 --> 00:00:46.039
were both eighteen years old. A
High Court judge in London ruled that the

4
00:00:46.119 --> 00:00:50.840
media were not allowed to reveal where
Venables and Thompson would be living once they

5
00:00:50.880 --> 00:00:55.759
were released. They would more than
likely be living under aliases and those names

6
00:00:55.759 --> 00:00:59.920
could not be published. Also,
the media was forbidden to publish photos of

7
00:01:00.119 --> 00:01:03.640
the two that were taken from nineteen
ninety three until two thousand and one,

8
00:01:03.280 --> 00:01:08.200
and they were forbidden to release where
the two were living. Venables and Thompson

9
00:01:08.319 --> 00:01:15.079
were living in secrecy. Why In
nineteen ninety three, John Vinibles and Robert

10
00:01:15.079 --> 00:01:21.879
Thompson committed a murder, A murder
carried out when they were both ten years

11
00:01:21.920 --> 00:01:26.879
old. Their victim was James Bulger
and he was only two years old.

12
00:01:26.640 --> 00:01:32.760
Venibles and Thompson kidnapped James from a
shopping center at random. Britain and the

13
00:01:32.760 --> 00:01:38.159
rest of the world were shocked and
outraged by the crime. Venables and Thompson

14
00:01:38.200 --> 00:01:42.760
had been incarcerated for roughly eight years. When released, they were free However,

15
00:01:42.879 --> 00:01:47.840
the High Court judge understood that both
Venibles and Thompson were marked men.

16
00:01:48.439 --> 00:01:53.159
Their release was not a popular decision, especially with the parents of James Bolger.

17
00:01:53.840 --> 00:01:57.719
There was no secret that there were
people willing to find Venables and Thompson

18
00:01:57.879 --> 00:02:01.560
and avenge the murder of James.
Ralph Bulger, the father of James,

19
00:02:01.640 --> 00:02:07.040
did at one time vow to find
them and kill them. One of the

20
00:02:07.040 --> 00:02:12.719
most horrific cases in British history was
committed by children, and their victim was

21
00:02:12.759 --> 00:02:17.919
an innocent child who was barely shy
of three years old. Denise Fergus was

22
00:02:17.960 --> 00:02:22.879
born and raised in Liverpool, England. She always wanted to be a mother.

23
00:02:23.479 --> 00:02:27.919
She gave birth to James Bulger in
March of nineteen ninety He was remembered

24
00:02:27.919 --> 00:02:32.000
by her as being a wonderful child. It was Friday February twelfth, nineteen

25
00:02:32.080 --> 00:02:36.319
ninety three, when she decided to
go on a trip with James to the

26
00:02:36.360 --> 00:02:40.879
Strand shopping center, which is outside
of Liverpool. Denise would later tell a

27
00:02:40.919 --> 00:02:46.520
reporter that it was the worst decision
that she ever made in her life.

28
00:02:46.560 --> 00:02:51.560
Denise and James stopped by a butcher's
shop at the Strand Denise recalled that James

29
00:02:51.639 --> 00:02:54.199
was at her side when she stopped
to pay for some food. When she

30
00:02:54.240 --> 00:03:00.159
looked back down at her son,
he was gone. She panicked, afraid

31
00:03:00.159 --> 00:03:04.879
that he had wandered off into the
shopping center. Police arrived forty minutes later

32
00:03:04.879 --> 00:03:08.240
after James vanished. A search where
the toddler began, and all hands were

33
00:03:08.280 --> 00:03:14.639
on deck searching for him. Four
hours after he vanished, the Criminal Investigation

34
00:03:14.719 --> 00:03:19.319
Division was called in to work the
case. They would soon have a lead.

35
00:03:20.159 --> 00:03:23.080
A witness claimed to have seen a
child crying by a canal that was

36
00:03:23.159 --> 00:03:28.919
right next to the strand. This
was especially terrifying at the time because it

37
00:03:28.960 --> 00:03:32.360
was possible that James wandered away from
his mother and could have fallen into the

38
00:03:32.400 --> 00:03:38.639
canal by accident. Investigators decided to
check the CCTV system at the strand.

39
00:03:39.319 --> 00:03:45.120
The quality of the video was not
perfect, because it never is, but

40
00:03:45.199 --> 00:03:51.479
they painstakingly reviewed the footage. Something
caught their attention. James was seen walking

41
00:03:51.599 --> 00:03:55.840
hand in hand with one boy while
another walked ahead of them. They were

42
00:03:55.919 --> 00:04:01.000
leading him somewhere. Investigators were surprised
to see James walking away with two boys.

43
00:04:01.680 --> 00:04:05.360
Due to the poor film quality,
investigators could only guess the ages of

44
00:04:05.400 --> 00:04:11.599
the two boys. They were possibly
teens. Maybe. It took roughly ninety

45
00:04:11.639 --> 00:04:15.080
seconds for the two to lead James
from one end of the strand to the

46
00:04:15.120 --> 00:04:20.000
exit. Investigators were dealing with children
who had abducted a child. It was

47
00:04:20.079 --> 00:04:26.439
unbelievable and where did they go.
Early on, investigators were trying to figure

48
00:04:26.480 --> 00:04:30.959
out why the two young boys had
taken James. They wondered if it was

49
00:04:30.000 --> 00:04:34.879
some kind of prank. An investigator
involved in the case remembered being relieved that

50
00:04:35.040 --> 00:04:40.759
James was taken from the strand by
young boys because they didn't think anything sinister

51
00:04:40.879 --> 00:04:46.000
would happen. Images from the CCTV
footage were released to the public. Police

52
00:04:46.000 --> 00:04:49.199
were fielding calls for tips and they
were searching the Liverpool area for James.

53
00:04:50.199 --> 00:04:57.079
Nearly forty hours after James Bulger went
missing, police received word that a body

54
00:04:57.240 --> 00:05:00.519
had been discovered. It was on
a railway line a few miles from the

55
00:05:00.560 --> 00:05:06.720
strand. The police were absolutely horrified
with what they discovered. The victim had

56
00:05:06.759 --> 00:05:12.560
been hit by a train and what
the police saw was too upsetting to share

57
00:05:12.639 --> 00:05:16.839
with the public. Bulger was discovered
some two hundred yards from a police station.

58
00:05:17.600 --> 00:05:20.639
And one thing they were sure of
when they found James was that the

59
00:05:20.759 --> 00:05:27.639
train was not responsible for his death. During their investigation, the police were

60
00:05:27.720 --> 00:05:31.480
certain the two boys walked with James
from the strand to the railway. They

61
00:05:31.519 --> 00:05:36.160
wanted to piece together a route that
would have been traveled. A local business

62
00:05:36.199 --> 00:05:41.160
along the way to the rail yard
had a security camera and the police were

63
00:05:41.160 --> 00:05:46.920
hoping it would capture something anything it
showed James and the two boys. However,

64
00:05:46.040 --> 00:05:50.920
that footage also was not great and
the police became even more frustrated.

65
00:05:51.759 --> 00:05:57.639
The police were hoping for a break, and it happened. Days after James

66
00:05:57.680 --> 00:06:01.000
Bulger's remains were discovered. Someone had
called the police and said they knew two

67
00:06:01.040 --> 00:06:05.920
local boys, John Venables and Robert
Thompson, had skipped school on Friday.

68
00:06:06.519 --> 00:06:11.079
The caller noted that one of the
boys had blue paint on their coat,

69
00:06:11.279 --> 00:06:15.560
and this was an important clue for
the police because blue paint was on the

70
00:06:15.600 --> 00:06:19.519
body of James. Police contacted the
school where the boys were enrolled and learned

71
00:06:19.519 --> 00:06:23.920
that the two were not at school
the day that James went missing, and

72
00:06:23.959 --> 00:06:29.240
it was also not unusual for them
to skip school. Most importantly, both

73
00:06:29.319 --> 00:06:34.040
Venibles and Thompson lived close to where
the body was discovered. Both John Venables

74
00:06:34.079 --> 00:06:39.720
and Robert Thompson were arrested by the
police and brought in for questioning. The

75
00:06:39.720 --> 00:06:44.000
police were surprised at the ages of
the two boys. They didn't expect them

76
00:06:44.040 --> 00:06:46.720
to be so young, and they
also didn't expect the two little boys to

77
00:06:46.759 --> 00:06:51.680
be behind one of the worst crimes
in British history. Police separated the two

78
00:06:51.720 --> 00:06:57.759
for questioning and they were easy on
them during the interrogations. It was uncharted

79
00:06:57.800 --> 00:07:01.360
waters for the police because they had
no explivariance in interrogating suspects this young.

80
00:07:02.120 --> 00:07:06.439
One officer that interviewed the boys recalled
that one of them masks if you could

81
00:07:06.439 --> 00:07:13.519
get fingerprints off of skin, fingerprints
placed the boys near the Strand. A

82
00:07:13.600 --> 00:07:16.639
shop owner near the Strand recalled both
Venibles and Thompson hanging out in front of

83
00:07:16.639 --> 00:07:21.240
their shop and had their hands on
the glass. The police removed that glass

84
00:07:21.240 --> 00:07:26.800
from the shop to get Prince and
they got a match on Venables. Venables

85
00:07:26.879 --> 00:07:30.000
initially told police that he was nowhere
near the Strand on the day Bulger went

86
00:07:30.040 --> 00:07:35.720
missing. Thompson's interview was different.
He admitted to being at the Strand with

87
00:07:35.839 --> 00:07:42.839
Venables and Thompson admitted the two of
them taking James Bulger. Investigators are called

88
00:07:42.879 --> 00:07:47.399
Thompson would cry during their interview,
but it was strange because Thompson never had

89
00:07:47.519 --> 00:07:53.040
tears when he cried, and they
were convinced that it was all an act.

90
00:07:53.839 --> 00:07:58.360
Venables did eventually admit to being at
the strands with Thompson, and Venables

91
00:07:58.439 --> 00:08:03.360
then admitted that it was Thompson to
kill Bulger, and he also admitted his

92
00:08:03.399 --> 00:08:07.800
own guilt in the killing. Another
thing he told police was that the plan

93
00:08:07.959 --> 00:08:11.920
was for the two boys to toss
James into the canal near the strand.

94
00:08:11.519 --> 00:08:16.000
When James wouldn't get close enough to
the edge of the walkway near the canal,

95
00:08:16.439 --> 00:08:20.120
Robert Thompson got angry. He picked
James up and dropped him on his

96
00:08:20.199 --> 00:08:24.759
head. The police were able to
get the entire story from both of the

97
00:08:24.800 --> 00:08:30.959
boys, in all of its horrible
detail. Vinable and Thompson did indeed murder

98
00:08:31.199 --> 00:08:35.559
James Bulger. The two were sent
to court on murder charges. The boys

99
00:08:35.559 --> 00:08:39.240
were found guilty, and they were
each eleven years old at the time they

100
00:08:39.240 --> 00:08:45.759
were convicted. Next was the sentencing. How long would these two be in

101
00:08:45.799 --> 00:08:48.559
prison for their crimes. At first, the two were told by the judge

102
00:08:48.559 --> 00:08:52.159
that they would spend a long time
in prison for what they did, but

103
00:08:52.200 --> 00:08:58.759
a few weeks later they were sentenced
to eight years in detention facility. Denise

104
00:08:58.799 --> 00:09:01.720
Fergus, the mother of James Sames, was dumbfounded by the decision. Both

105
00:09:01.799 --> 00:09:07.120
Venibles and Thompson served time at a
children's home until their release in two thousand

106
00:09:07.120 --> 00:09:11.639
and one. Robert Thompson took on
a new life with a new identity.

107
00:09:11.960 --> 00:09:16.480
He's never been arrested since, but
the same cannot be said about John Vennibles.

108
00:09:16.039 --> 00:09:20.000
Since two thousand and one, Venables
has been arrested multiple times and served

109
00:09:20.039 --> 00:09:24.039
time in prison. He was sentenced
to two years in prison in twenty ten

110
00:09:24.159 --> 00:09:31.080
for making and distributing indecent images of
children. It was twenty seventeen when he

111
00:09:31.200 --> 00:09:35.320
was arrested again again. He was
in possession of indecent images, but was

112
00:09:35.360 --> 00:09:39.919
involved in a disturbing scheme in chat
rooms. He posed as a thirty five

113
00:09:41.000 --> 00:09:45.600
year old mother bragging about abusing her
own eight year old daughter. He was

114
00:09:45.600 --> 00:09:50.440
trying to solicit more photos from the
people he was chatting with, more indecent

115
00:09:50.600 --> 00:09:54.600
images of children. In twenty twenty, he was up for parole but denied.

116
00:09:56.440 --> 00:10:00.480
Denise Fergus had the difficult task of
moving on in life and did so

117
00:10:00.639 --> 00:10:05.399
with her husband, Ralph Boulger,
but they eventually divorced. The two remarried

118
00:10:05.440 --> 00:10:09.440
and started new families. They are
still in the spotlight today when the case

119
00:10:09.519 --> 00:10:13.039
is mentioned in the news. The
James Bolger story is one where it's extremely

120
00:10:13.120 --> 00:10:18.279
difficult to find any silver lining.
Today. Fergus has boxes in her home

121
00:10:18.320 --> 00:10:22.559
of letters that she received from all
over the world from people who wanted to

122
00:10:22.559 --> 00:10:26.879
send their condolences. Letters have trickled
in over the years, and the memory

123
00:10:26.879 --> 00:10:31.080
of James Bulger still lives in the
hearts and minds of millions of people.

124
00:10:43.480 --> 00:10:48.480
That's ten minute Murder for today,
brief and bingeable true crime. I'm Joe

125
00:10:48.559 --> 00:10:52.679
the host, and thank you so
much for taking the time to listen to

126
00:10:52.840 --> 00:10:58.039
ten Minute Murder today. A quick
email question. Hi, mister ten minute

127
00:10:58.080 --> 00:11:01.679
Murder. I have a question.
I'd like to know what are you currently

128
00:11:01.720 --> 00:11:07.960
reading? Love the show Darcy and
Richmond and Darcy. That's very presumptuous for

129
00:11:07.039 --> 00:11:11.200
you to assume that I know how
to read, but I do. I

130
00:11:11.320 --> 00:11:18.279
just finished Pretty Girls by Karen Slaughter, So write this minute. I'm not

131
00:11:18.399 --> 00:11:22.720
reading anything. I'm in between books
at the moment, and this is a

132
00:11:22.720 --> 00:11:26.759
good opportunity to ask you what are
you reading you listening. I'm assuming there's

133
00:11:26.799 --> 00:11:31.440
some readers that listen to this podcast. So if there's a book that you

134
00:11:31.480 --> 00:11:33.919
think that I should get my eyes
on, then let me know about it.

135
00:11:35.000 --> 00:11:37.320
Send me an email Joe at ten
minute Murder dot com. I'm always

136
00:11:37.320 --> 00:11:41.360
looking for good book recommendations. Now, I will say this, I don't

137
00:11:41.399 --> 00:11:46.919
normally read them with my eyes because
of my time constraints in doing this podcast

138
00:11:46.960 --> 00:11:50.759
that leaves me with very little free
time, and I read them with my

139
00:11:50.840 --> 00:11:54.039
ears. I don't know who invented
audio books, but I love you and

140
00:11:54.080 --> 00:11:56.879
I'll kiss you on the mouth if
I meet you. But thanks again to

141
00:11:56.960 --> 00:12:01.600
Darcy and Richmond for the email.
And if you're brand new to ten Minute

142
00:12:01.679 --> 00:12:05.720
Murder, make sure you hit subscribe
before you go. Catch up on any

143
00:12:05.720 --> 00:12:09.159
back episodes. Connect on social media
to see pictures of what we talk about

144
00:12:09.159 --> 00:12:11.000
here in the podcast. And if
you love the show, if you really

145
00:12:11.080 --> 00:12:16.200
enjoy what you're listening to, let
your friends and family know about ten Minute

146
00:12:16.279 --> 00:12:18.639
Murder. Spread the word about the
show and help me help it grow.

147
00:12:20.320 --> 00:12:22.279
Thank you for listening to ten minute
Murder. Goodbye,