Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, February 21, 1993 TAG: 9302210148
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-9 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND LENGTH: Medium
BOYS, 10, FACE MURDER CHARGE
Police on Saturday charged two 10-year-old boys with the abduction and murder of toddler James Bulger, a crime that stunned the country and terrified parents.Police arrested the youths after studying security camera pictures of two boys leading the 2-year-old away by the hand. James was taken from a shopping mall Feb. 12, and his battered body was found two days later.
The 10-year-olds will appear before magistrates Monday, a police spokesman said in Liverpool, 170 miles northwest of London.
They are likely the youngest Britons to face murder charges, at least in this century, said a spokeswoman for the National Association for the Care and Resettlement of Offenders, a prisoners' rights group.
The two 10-year-olds were also charged with attempted abduction. Press Association, the domestic news agency, said that charge was connected with an attempt to kidnap another toddler shortly before James disappeared.
Under British law, 10 is the minimum age at which children can face criminal charges. Prosecutors must prove the boys were aware that what they did was wrong.
The charges came after three days of interrogation that police described as slow and gentle. The boys, who as children cannot be legally identified, were arrested quietly Thursday, and their arrest was announced Friday. Police fear mob violence against their families.
Police did not comment on any possible motive for the killing. The cause of death has also not been announced.
In Bootle, the poor dockside neighborhood where James disappeared, anger ran high against the suspects even before the charges were laid. "The people here are pure bitter," said Denise Cornmell, 29, clutching her 4-year-old daughter.
"Those two boys - whatever happens to them will be too good," she said. "They should be punished the way they punished that poor baby boy."
James' parents, Ralph and Denise, "are of course relieved at the progress that has been made but are still trying to come to terms with the situation," said their lawyer, Sean Sexton.
Crimes involving children so young are rare in Britain. According to government statistics, 10 children between the ages of 11 and 13 have been sentenced for murder or manslaughter in the past decade.
James' death has raised calls for the government to crack down harder on young criminals through jail sentences for persistent offenders and other steps. Children under 15 cannot be kept in custody.
Prime Minister John Major said in a newspaper interview published today it was time to crack down on youngsters who "offend, re-offend and offend."
James was kidnapped after wandering briefly from his mother in the busy Strand shopping center in the Bootle neighborhood of Liverpool, a city of 500,000 with high jobless rates and other economic woes.
Keywords:
FATALITY