James Patrick Bulger
| James Bulger | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Born |
James Patrick Bulger 16 March 1990 Liverpool, Merseyside, England |
| Died | 12 February 1993 (aged 2) Liverpool, Merseyside, England |
| Cause of death | Beating |
| Residence | Kirkby, Merseyside, England |
| Nationality | British |
| Home town | Kirkby |
| Parent(s) | Ralph Stephen Bulger Denise Bulger (now Fergus) |
James Patrick Bulger (16 March 1990 – February 12, 1993) was a boy from Kirkby, Merseyside, England, who was murdered on 12 February 1993, at the age of two. He was abducted, tortured and murdered by two ten-year-old boys, Robert Thompson (born August 23, 1982) and Jon Venables (born August 13, 1982). Bulger was led away from the New Strand Shopping Centre in Bootle whilst his mother was distracted. His mutilated body was found on a railway line two-and-a-half miles (4 km) away in Walton, Liverpool, two days after his murder. Thompson and Venables were charged on 20 February 1993 with Bulger's abduction and murder.
They were found guilty on 24 November 1993, making them the youngest convicted murderers in modern English history. They were sentenced to custody until they reached adulthood, initially until the age of 18, and were released under new identities and on a lifelong licence in June 2001. In 2010, Venables was sent to prison for violating the terms of his licence of release, and was released on parole again in 2013.
The case has prompted widespread debate on the issue of how to handle young offenders when they are sentenced or released from custody.
CCTV surveillance from the New Strand Shopping Centre in Bootle taken on Friday 12 February 1993 showed Thompson and Venables casually observing children, apparently selecting a target. The boys were playing truant from school, which they did regularly. Throughout the day, Thompson and Venables were seen stealing various items including sweets, a troll doll, some batteries and a can of blue paint, some of which were later found at the murder scene. One of the boys later revealed that they were planning to find a child to abduct, lead him to the busy road alongside the mall, and push him into the path of oncoming traffic.
That same afternoon, James Bulger (often called "Jamie" by the press, although never by his family), from nearby Kirkby, went with his mother Denise to the New Strand Shopping Centre. While inside the A.R. Tym's butcher's shop on the lower floor of the centre at around 3:40 p.m., Denise, who had been temporarily distracted, realised that her son had disappeared. Thompson and Venables approached him before taking him by the hand and leading him out of the shopping centre. This moment was captured on a CCTV camera recording timestamped at 15:42.
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