'It's always our family that gets the blame,' Robert said to police after he was arrested for James's murder. For a start, there were only three children, of whom Jon was the middle. The other boy, Robert Thompson, we are told is now abiding by the conditions of his life license since he was released 17 years ago, and is doing well. Meanwhile, A petition demanding a public inquiry into James Bulger's murder case has got nearly 15,000 signatures in one day. One could draw some parallels between the film's plot and James Bulger's death. Look at mine. They would sneak out during the morning break, hiding behind a wall before the coast was clear. Money, or his family's lack of it, preyed on his mind. Her husband came back to Walton now and again to see his mother, but he never came to see the boys. My young body must have been tense with the deep anxiety that permeated every inch of that courtroom. The Radio Merseyside newsroom, where I was working at the time, was full and everyone was on this story one way or another. Robert passed this down the line bullying his eight-year-old brother into playing truant. The phone-in programme, as ever, was a place to turn to try to find reasons - evil, poverty, neglect, possessed anything to explain what felt inexplicable. She was living in secrecy but always felt that she was walking around with a huge sign: mother of Bulger killer, above her head. Jon was also mad on computers. 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. As his killers began their sentences, such was the revulsion that it was already clear their families could not. At the trialnine months laterI would learn that Robert Thompson had been among those people. Hyperactive children can't sit still all day,' Mrs Venables said. Channel 5 is set to air a new two-part documentary that tells the definitive story of . 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. Ian was clever enough to know that to survive he had to get out. Maybe it was that incident that put the idea into Jon or Robbie's head to 'get a little boy lost'. A maudlin ballad about Liverpool was playing in the back- ground and she was cooking the dish known as Scouse. His mother especially has been a tower of strength, says the source. He stayed away from school so often the local police called him a professional truant. Ann and Bobby fought regularly in front of the children, with virtually all of the fights leading to physical violence. 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. Robert had asked once before but Jon, who had rarely truanted in his previous school, was scared and said no. I'm warning yer,' she would say. 'It was good. His mates called him a girl because whenever there was something on his mind he sucked his thumb. Last November he was arrested and recalled to jail on suspicion of possession of images of child sex abuse. Just something to do.'. 'America is the land of shopping malls. I made notes of the pathologists evidence. What doing well means is anybodys guess. In contrast he has had no contact with his father despite an approach soon after sentencing. That's the thing that upsets me because obviously where I was standing poor little James must have been not. Regrettably, yet perhaps not entirely unforeseen, the cycle of abuse continued. . everyone blamed Thompson and. He always had plenty of friends. His mother was not so keen on the idea - they cost pounds 35 each. Susan Venables, mother of Jon - referred to throughout the trial as Boy B - blamed her son's 'weakness' for the murder of James Bulger, and said he was going through torment. 'They would say 'take your son home'. Neil Venables, 40, said he felt "just devastated, thinking of that little boy'. She said an educational psychologist had diagnosed hyperactivity in her son, who was bullied at his previous school. He's quite bright and clever. 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. On the days he was at school he had a knack for stirring things up. Hes your son., Unhappily, it was during this critical time that Ann became pregnant with her seventh child, the product of another failed relationship. "You look at him and you say to yourself, 'How could you be involved in anything like this?'" Lady Penelope was his favourite character because she was rich, followed by Brains with the glasses. We still think the same of him as we always have. . He has had his holidays like everyone else. Our feelings haven't changed towards him. The documentary on the James Bulger murder case sparked anger after viewers criticised the Channel 4 show for "sympathising" with the toddler's killers. . "I think my son's concentration wasn't the way it should have been, but he wasn't slow. The case of James, a two-year-old who was snatched from a shopping centre in Bootle, Liverpool, in 1993, before being tortured and left to die, shocked the nation. "Throughout the conduct of the case there have been a number of issues that have been swept under the carpet. I barely need to refer to my notes to remember in great detail the events that would dominate British news for years. cl gz. Robert was number five of seven. So much happened whilst I was there involving Jon. She couldn't. 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. Venables and Thompson abducted, tortured and killed two-year-old James in Liverpool in 1993 when they were both aged just 10. S. Susan venables. The Telegraph values your comments but kindly requests all posts are on topic, constructive and respectful. She claimed, however, that she was completely unaware of Jons erratic behaviors at school, had never seen any evidence to support them (such as cuts on his arms or holes in his socks), and dismissed the possibility that many of the occurrences cited by the teacher had ever taken place. The most agonising thing about the whole case was that so many people had stopped them and questioned them. so they were put in a lower year. It is here, of course, that Jon met and made friends with fellow eccentric, Robert Thompson. They deal with drugs, they deal with everything. We still dont know why. I am not sure if in fact he was seen by the school psychologist, but I did complete a form for him.. From their point of view it makes perfect sense. The boys lived off chips. By chance, the rest of Jon's family was driving past and spotted them. Its beyond me," one viewer tweeted. 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. They had to report him missing at the security office before he was found, and Jon's mother was very angry. Ann was a heavy drinker, separated from her husband, also called Robert, who had deserted the family several years earlier and did not attend court. "My heart really goes out to them. 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. The four who drove Suzanne to Romiley - Jean Powell (now Jean Gillespie), Bernadette McNeilly, Glyn Powell, and Anthony Dudson - were all found guilty of murder. He was a loyal fan, though he did not go often to Goodison Park. He carried books on wrestling and wildlife in his school bag. Look at mine. Jon's parents, who sat in court for most of the trial, said they grieved for the Bulgers. Everton was his team. It was a sign of such restlessness that he was unable to hang on to a football team for long - he kept shifting his allegiance like a floating voter. Unemployment levels were more than twice the national average in Walton. Grey seal pups on the beach at Horsey in Norfolk, as the pupping season draws to a close at one the UK's most important sites for the mammals. So, when he first began his association with classmate Jon Venables, in September 1992, Robert was happy to have finally befriended a boy like Jon, who could almost always be persuaded to follow in his lead. Mrs Venables has also said that she felt. I wish we could turn the clocks back,' Mrs Venables, 36, said. She also had to stay strong for the remaining children. Ironically, the relationship between mother and son improved when he, was behind bars. I don't think so. He had been quiet that weekend, they said, but they had thought that was because his mother had taken him to the police station on the Friday evening for playing truant. He has never really been what you would call a sagger off school (a truant). One neighbour said she always let him into her home whenever his mother was out. There, he is terrorising a girl. The hardliners in the police have a simpler explanation. Although he appeared to have the more stable upbringing of the two boys, there was a history of family problems. ', 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. The prosecution, led by Richard Henriques QC, made its case quite simply really, using the journey they took James on to tell the story. You know, we just try and help him as best we can to try to come to terms with things. While Robert was described as a wily child, known to tell lies, most of the St. Marys school staff agreed that the boy posed little trouble, and, if and when he attended, was generally well-mannered during class. We will never be able to do the fun things any more . On the 20 year anniversary of the murder of James Bulger, BBC Radio 5 Live's Shelagh Fogarty recalls the trial of his young killers. In quest of companionship, he occasionally bullied his younger brother into truanting with him, and, in an effort to impress his peers, frequently boasted of his late-night exploits on the railway line, but failed to attract much attention. Celestial. When a police officer asked him why he didn't rescue James bleeding on the railway lines he replied: ' 'Cos blood stains, doesn't it, and then me mother would have to pay more money. Both had parents who had separated. Every day the public gallery was packed with students, pensioners, mothers, teenagers, all drawn to the courtroom spectacle as to a TV soap. They played truant, they pinched sweets, they terrorised old ladies. 'Just mad. When Robert was asked what his hobby was he did not say trolls but 'skipping school'. 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. See today's front and back pages, download the newspaper, order back issues and use the historic Daily Express newspaper archive. 'They were just your average scruff - like the rest of us.'. Finally, in 1988, while on a family vacation, the breaking point came, when Big Bobby, then thirty-four, began an adulterous relationship with a friend and neighbor in her fifties. Recently, I dug out my old notebooks of the trial and my handwriting during the verdicts says it all. He would call people names and get them to chase him. At Preston Crown Court a few months later, I was one of a handful of journalists given full access to the small courtroom for the trial of Jon Venables and Robert Thompson, both now 11-years-old. He is far from it. After a while he tried to commit suicide to get back in. Jon breaks into hysteria whenever the subject is mentioned.