Just four years earlier, we had all covered the Hillsborough disaster and come together in grief. For me, though, it is Susan and Neil Venables who stay most in my memory of that day. Neston Town Council unveil plans for Good Friday Easter Market, Drivers at risk of a 1,000 fine for these simple number plate mistakes, Trip Advisor: Six best Chinese restaurants in Wirral, 'Pubs need to adapt' if they are going to survive the times ahead, Birchwood company donates huge 45,000 to children's hospice, Series of strict conditions placed on dog after Widnes attack, Xi Jinping's power grab - and why it matters, Street fighting in Bakhmut but Russia not in control, Saving Private Ryan actor Tom Sizemore dies at 61, The children left behind in Cuba's mass exodus, Snow, Fire and Lights: Photos of the Week. At Preston Crown Court Thompsons mother Ann and Venables parents Neil and Sue sat side by side. He is one of those children that if you told him to put his hand in the fire, he would. This would have been at about 5.30pm - just the time the boys were about to begin killing Jamie. They said their son met Robert Thompson in September 1991, when Jon was transferred from another school. Why would I want to kill him? he said, referring to the slain toddler. He wanted a Rovers strip for his birthday present. his killers were just 10 years old and attention focused on their upbringing and dysfunctional home life. The fathers of both Robert and Jon were without work. He stayed away from school so often the local police called him a professional truant. It was high- lighted by the trial judge Mr Justice Morland who said they must take moral responsibility for the terrible actions of the young killers. Yes, these things are important, but trust. The officer who questioned Venables took the stand and explained how he had asked Susan Venables to absent herself from the next session as her presence was now inhibiting her son from telling the truth. The bird was taken to the vets where they are nursing it back to health. At Radio City in Liverpool the calls were coming through from Australia, New Zealand and Canada. Not really?. But apart from his brother, Robert struggled to build friendships. The pair were handed new identities after being released from prison. Shame? re bz. Real bottom of the gut stuff, like an animal. After spending just eight years in custody, Britain's youngest killers were released and given lifetime anonymity in the UK. According to a legal source we spoke to this week, Jon Venables parents have sought to be a support for their son, despite the enormity of his crime. David James Smith, who wrote a book about the Bulger case, The Sleep Of Reason, and stayed in touch with Ann Thompson afterwards. When the fisticuffs ended, impressed by each other's performance, they made friends. Meanwhile, Thompson has not re-offended since his release, and is believed to be in a long-term relationship with a man who knows who he really is. I barely need to refer to my notes to remember in great detail the events that would dominate British news for years. "What he's done is wrong so he needs to be punished. Susan Venables is on Facebook. They were in the Strand shopping centre in Bootle when the brother wandered off. Ann Thompson and Susan and Neil Venables didn't need to imagine. 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. But he liked collecting trolls, little doll-like creatures with ugly faces and spiky fluorescent hair. 'The attitude when you live where we live is that you have to be tough or else you don't survive,' she said. By now the two boys from Walton were part of an international freak show. 'You'd better tell the truth. The left will make play of social deprivation, unemployment, bad housing and general inner-city rot. The couples first child, a son, had been born with a cleft pallet, and when Jon was born, much of the Venables focus was on getting their eldest son into speech therapy. The documentary last night featured interviews with those involved in the 1993 trial, including James dad Ralph Bulger, Jon Venables solicitor Laurence Lee and detective sergeant Phil Roberts, who interviewed Robert Thompson. 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. Maybe it was that incident that put the idea into Jon or Robbie's head to 'get a little boy lost'. 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. Start your Independent Premium subscription today. Ironically, Jon was the child who caused his parents least anxiety. Verdict day came. View the profiles of people named Susan Venables. The documentary on the James Bulger murder case sparked anger after viewers criticised the Channel 4 show for "sympathising" with the toddler's killers. Ian was clever enough to know that to survive he had to get out. "My heart really goes out to them. Yet, even while Susan admitted to being under huge emotional strain on a daily basis, the couple later denied that her constant hysterics would have encroached on Jon in any way, considering he was still in infancy at the time. Security launched a search for James inside the centre and James' family searched for their son overnight. She said an educational psychologist had diagnosed hyperactivity in her son, who was bullied at his previous school. Robert said 'If you tell anybody I'll get my big brother to batter you up'. Now we waited. He was pale in complexion and had watery brown, listless eyes. Forensic and pathology evidence was a huge challenge for everyone, not least the jury who were shown pictures of James injuries. 'Just mad. The taunts upset Jons already volatile temper, and he began coming home in increasingly low spirits and crying. 'I couldn't be arsed talking about them,' said one. They and Ann Thompson, who has six other. He gets upset. 'When you have got people in the area threatening to blow your kneecaps off every moment of the day - that's just the way they are. 'In this state it is quite painful to see a normal relationship between mother and child. But they shouldn't have been tried in an adult court because they were still children. . 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. Susan Venables has blamed weakness for her sons role in the killing of James Bulger, claiming that he got involved with the wrong person. She visited regularly and they would hold family anniversaries in the, place where he was held. Were they to blame? This would have made little Robert the target of the fourth Thompson brother, who, in less than a years time, had confessed to arson, tried to stab his elder brother in a fit of rage, and had allegedly committed a lewd act against two small children (this incident was overlooked due to lack of evidence; however, because it was always considered a likely possibility that little Robert had been the victim of sexual abuse himself, and since Robert reportedly confirmed this years later, this occurrence involving his elder brother might be thought particularly revealing). Both boys had been held back a year, and they were put in the same class. They pair was ordered to be detained at her majesty's pleasure - meaning indefinitely - but in 2001, a six-month review by the parole board found they were no longer a threat to public safety and they were released on life licence after serving just eight years. 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 case is doomed to be picked over by every faction within the caring professionals and politics. Following the arrest of their sons it was reported that the mothers of the boys had been attacked and vilified in. But that is the common lot of thousands of 10-year-olds who have not turned into murderers. I made notes of the pathologists evidence. She said that Jon was always "loving, caring, thoughtful and considerate . Not that he had any need to borrow his dad's. In some families this was the third generation to be unemployed. MOST of the boys were bright. There was almost total silence there apart from the sound of shoes on the ground. Denise Fergus remains convinced both will always be a danger to children. He liked to spend the weekend on the streets. Mrs Venables has also said that she felt heartbreak for James and his parents and shame for her son. Although Susan couldnt recall any dramatic change in Jons behavior, his teachers there expressed some concern that Jon had become upset and difficult following the separation. I am not sure if in fact he was seen by the school psychologist, but I did complete a form for him.. They didnt kill him in an accident it was premeditated and they tortured that poor baby. She was paranoid about being discovered. He has had his holidays like everyone else. Their age was hard to gauge from the CCTV images, so just when you imagined you couldnt be more shocked by this story, it emerged the two accused were just 10-years-old. Aged 10, he was barely literate. she 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. We have found 88 people in the UK with the name Susan Venables. Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in, Parents of Jon Venables and Robert Thompson talk about their sons, Find your bookmarks in your Independent Premium section, under my profile. Facebook gives people the power. They hid his body under bricks so that the first train to come along cut his body in two, but he was already dead before this happened. In the last few years she stopped drinking in the Top House and tried to keep things together. 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. They would sneak out during the morning break, hiding behind a wall before the coast was clear. One neighbour said she always let him into her home whenever his mother was out. I didnt connect the dots until much later on. Our feelings haven't changed towards him. Trauma? He also liked to scare old ladies by jumping out in front of their noses. How could two small boys savage and leave a toddler for dead?