In February 1993, Liverpool became the stage for a crime that horrified the world. Two-year-old James Bulger was led away from a shopping centre by two boys who were just ten years old.
2-year old James Bulger
Hours later, his body was found miles away on a railway line. What began as a missing child alert ended in an investigation that would alter how Britain viewed both crime and childhood.
The killers, Robert Thompson and Jon Venables, became the youngest convicted murderers in modern UK history—sparking outrage, fear, and debate that still burns three decades later.
On February 12, 1993, James Bulger disappeared from the New Strand Shopping Centre in Bootle, Merseyside. CCTV captured the chilling moment: two ten-year-old boys, Robert Thompson and Jon Venables, calmly leading the toddler away. For two days, the city searched. Then came the devastating discovery—James’s body was found on a railway line in Walton, about two and a half miles away.
CCTV imaging shows the boys leading James away from the store his mother was in.
The investigation was immediate and relentless. Witnesses reported seeing the pair walking with James along busy streets. Surveillance footage sealed their fate. On February 20, 1993, Thompson and Venables were charged with abduction and murder.
Their trial drew worldwide attention. Courtrooms were packed, media swarmed, and Britain wrestled with how children so young could commit such an act. On November 24, 1993, both boys were found guilty. They became the youngest convicted murderers in modern British history.
The 10-year old boys responsible. Jon Venables and Robert Thompson
After serving eight years in juvenile detention, both were released in 2001 under new identities. But the story did not end there. Jon Venables has repeatedly returned to prison, most recently for possession of indecent images of children. In December 2023, he lost a Parole Board bid for release. In 2025, another hearing has been granted, once again reopening old wounds for James’s family.
This case remains one of the most haunting in British legal history. Thirty years on, its shadow still stretches across every parole hearing, every headline, every courtroom mention of Venables.
A crime scene image from the train tracks where they committed the crimes against James.
Outcome: Convicted of murder in 1993, released in 2001. Thompson has lived in anonymity. Venables remains incarcerated, his freedom contested to this day.
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