Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, November 25, 1993 TAG: 9311250123
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A1 EDITION: HOLIDAY
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: PRESTON, ENGLAND LENGTH: Medium
The savagery of 2-year-old James Bulger's death at the hands of the defendants, who were 10 at the time of the Feb. 12 killing, stunned Britain and set off nationwide soul-searching over the rise of juvenile violence.
A fuzzy security videotape of James being led from a Liverpool shopping mall by an older boy was broadcast around the world.
Sixty-one people remembered seeing James struggling with his killers, but only a handful intervened. Those who did were told that the boys were taking the child home or to a police station.
"Yes!" the toddler's father, Ralph Bulger, said in a soft voice when the jury announced the guilty verdict. James' mother, Denise, appearing in court for the first time, flushed slightly but said nothing.
Robert Thompson and Jon Venables were given an indeterminate sentence by Judge Michael Morland, who explained that meant they would be locked up "for very, very many years."
"In my judgment your conduct was both cunning and very wicked," Morland told the boys.
The boys showed no emotion when they heard the verdict, but both had obviously cried before they returned for sentencing. Thompson took off his tie and breathed deeply. Venables sobbed while his mother patted him on the shoulder and handed him tissues.
Before the sentencing, defense lawyer Laurence Lee said Venables asked him, "Would you please tell them I am sorry?"
Prosecutors said the boys dragged James 2 1/2 miles across Liverpool to an isolated railroad track, where they punched and beat him with bricks and an iron bar, splattered him with blue paint and partly stripped him. When his body was found two days later, it had been sliced in half by a train.
Both boys had pleaded innocent, despite Venables' confession and Thompson's admission that he witnessed James' death.
The two boys cannot be released until the home secretary, the Cabinet official responsible for law and order, believes they no longer pose a danger to the public.
James was the Bulgers' only child. Denise Bulger is expecting a second child in December.
"The trial is over, but their nightmare will never end," said Sean Sexton, the family's lawyer. "They can't understand why they [the boys] did what they did."
The case left everyone involved grasping for explanations.
"I believe human nature spurts out freaks. These two were freaks who just found each other," said Sgt. Phil Roberts, an investigating officer.
Detective Superintendent Albert Kirby, who led the investigation, said police still don't understand what made the two young boys decide to kill. "And it's something which I'll probably ponder on for many years," he said.
The judge said he suspected that "violent video films may in part be an explanation."
The jury could not reach a verdict on a charge that the boys attempted to abduct another child, and the charge was dropped.
by CNB