The Murder of James Bulger: The Case That Shook Britain

Little James was with his mother Denise in the New Strand shopping centre in Bootle that day. Shortly before 3:40 p.m., Denise let go of James's hand for a moment to pay at the butcher's. When she turned back, James was gone.

Security cameras captured two older boys approaching little James, taking him by the hand, and leading him out of the shopping centre. They were the ten-year-old Robert Thompson and Jon Venables, who were skipping school that day and wandering around the area. Even before the abduction, they had been shoplifting small items—sweets, batteries, model paint, and toys.

According to later statements, they planned to abduct a small child and push him under a passing car.

The boys first took James to the Leeds–Liverpool Canal. There, they pushed him so that he fell, hit his head, and joked about throwing him into the water. Witnesses later described seeing a boy crying hard.

They then walked him a long four kilometres across Liverpool. During this journey, around 38 people saw them. Most noticed that the little boy looked exhausted, was crying, and was injured, but when anyone asked directly, Jon and Robert replied that he was their younger brother or a lost child they were taking to the police. No one found it suspicious, and no one intervened, sealing little James's fate.

The group of boys eventually reached the Walton area. Near a police station, Jon and Robert hesitated for a moment, but then led James to a nearby railway track by an abandoned station. There, they began systematically attacking the child. They stripped him from the waist down and gradually threw stones and heavy bricks at him, kicked him, and stamped on his body.

James screamed in pain, yet Jon and Robert continued the assault. They forced batteries into his injured mouth and, according to the investigation, also into his rectum. They then opened a previously stolen can of paint and poured blue paint into his eyes. Finally, they dropped a metal plate weighing about 10 kilograms onto his head. The autopsy later showed that James suffered a total of 42 serious injuries, and it was impossible to identify a single fatal blow.

They then placed his body on the tracks and weighted his head with stones to make the death appear accidental. An oncoming train ran over the body, but forensic examination revealed that James had already died from his injuries beforehand.

His mutilated remains were not found until two days later by four boys searching the area for a lost ball.

The police soon obtained camera footage showing the abduction. Edited images of the two unknown boys were broadcast across Britain. The breakthrough came when one woman recognised Jon Venables. She knew he had not gone to school that day and was with Robert Thompson.

Forensic evidence was conclusive: blue paint on their clothing matched the paint on James's body, blood on Robert Thompson's shoe belonged to the victim, and marks on James's face matched the shape of one of the boys' shoes.

On 20 February 1993, both were charged with murder.

On 24 November 1993, Robert Thompson and Jon Venables were found guilty of abduction and murder. They became the youngest convicted murderers in modern British history. They were sentenced to "detention at Her Majesty's pleasure," meaning their release depended on the authorities' decision.

In 2001, it was decided that they would be released on licence upon reaching 18 years old and given new identities.

Life after release

Jon Venables, however, continued to return to crime in other ways. In 2010, he was imprisoned again for possessing child pornography. After release in 2013, he was arrested again in 2017 for the same offence. His 2023 application for parole was rejected.

As of January 2026, another parole hearing for the now 43-year-old Venables has been granted by the Parole Board. It is an oral hearing, expected in the coming weeks or months (the exact date has not yet been publicly set). James Bulger's mother, Denise Fergus, has been granted permission to attend and will hear Venables' voice for the first time in decades, which has reopened her trauma and caused immense distress. In 2023, the Parole Board had concluded he still posed a danger to children and was not safe for release. Denise has called for a change in the law so that offenders who breach licence conditions twice (as Venables has) are never considered for parole again. Venables remains in prison pending the outcome of this new hearing.

As for Robert Thompson, unlike Venables, he has not been convicted of any serious offence since his release in 2001. Media reports have included only a few indirect and unconfirmed details—for example, that he has held various manual jobs, leads a low-profile life, reportedly has a long-term relationship, and has shown interest in art in the past. The state has never disclosed his exact whereabouts, details of his work, or family life.

From the authorities' perspective, Thompson is considered to be complying with his licence conditions and does not currently pose a safety risk. To the public, however, his life since 2001 remains virtually invisible, protected by law, anonymity, and state safeguards.

The James Bulger case sparked widespread debate in the United Kingdom about children's responsibility for serious crimes, the length of their sentences, and the possibility of their reintegration into society. It is still cited as one of the key cases that influenced approaches to juvenile offenders.