To ask your thoughts on Jon Venables joining a dating site?

[Sallystyle]

With his new name no one can do a google search on him and find his history.

He was found not long ago with images of child abuse.

Should he be able to get on with his life now he is out of prison? Of course he can just as easily meet someone in the pub.

I just had a debate with a family member about this so interested in your thoughts.

Link here


www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/uk-world-news/james-bulger-killer-jon-venables-5039227

[Branleuse]

im sure its bollocks anyway. We are no more at risk from jon venables than any number of people out there. There is a dangerous paedophile on a dating site somewhere? no shit? Theres likely hundreds.

Hes almost turned into some grim fairy tale about the monster in the woods now

[Sallystyle]

Why should this thread be deleted?

Aren't we allowed to talk about things that have been in the 'news'?

[Sallystyle]

Anyway, I have reported my own thread to MN so they can decide.

[momb]

What we did:
www.theguardian.com/uk/1999/dec/16/bulger.marktran

What we should have done:
www.theguardian.com/theguardian/2010/mar/20/norway-town-forgave-child-killers

We allowed our righteous anger to overtake our sense of right and wrong, encouraged by the media and the criminal justice's kow-towing to the redtops instead of the courts to take two children, one of whom was clearly very damaged by their abusive home environment, the other one neglected at best, and we named them, charged them as adults, ruined their lives for ever, made them responsible for their actions in a way that no child crime before or since has ever been handled. What they did was terribly terribly wrong. What we as a nation did to them was evil.

[FarelyKnuts]

I would be more concerned about the 1000's of men out there that have not yet been caught who are looking to abuse children than one known and monitored individual.

[SaucyJack]

Jon Venables didn't come from a 5* background, but the psychs/social workers at the time didn't find anything to suggest that anything out of the ordinary happened to him to make him the way he became. Robert Thompson was the one who grew up in a violent and possibly sexually abusive household.

I think describing someone as born "evil" is a bit archaic, but it's definitely fair to say he was born with an anti-social and sadistic personality disorder (or however else one wants to put it in clinical terms).

[Aeroflotgirl]

Gym who knows, could be upbringing, circumstances, innate. Imo they should have never been released.

[MoanCollins]

I think Momb, that Venables behaviour has rather discredited your way of thinking. The children in the Norway case were much younger and probably didn't have any idea what they were doing or that it was wrong. The crime was not sexual in nature.

Venables and Thompson were much older and knew right from wrong. Plus in Venables case at least there was nothing in his background which could have sparked off such behaviour, as in, for example, the Edlington case where the attackers had been the victim of horrendous abuse themselves.

And Venables subsequent behaviour has made it much more likely that in his part rather than a childish mistake the murder of James was deliberate and motivated by sadistic sexuality. In the case of the Norway children if Venables had been treated the same way it seems overwhelmingly likely that such treatment would have simply facilitated his offending rather than rehabilitating him.

[LadyLuck10]

He should be locked away for the rest of his pathetic life. I doubt anyone wants him to be a part of society. The poor parents of that little boy, they shouldn't have to keep reliving this time and time again.

[WannaBe]

so, the press have gained knowledge of the fact that Venibles is apparently on a dating site. And what have they done with this information? Responsibly taken it to the authorities? informed them that it seems that women and children could be at risk? ah no, they've published the information so the pitchfork waving mob can whip themselves up into a frenzy over it. How responsible. And what if it isn't him? What if it was say, a cousin who looked like him? Or just someone who had a resemblance? What then?

the internet is full of questionable individuals who have embellished large parts of their lives. You only have to look on mn for the amount of posts that are deleted for being fictitious. You only have to look at the dating threads to realise that the majority of people online dating sites aren't what they seem.

I'm sure there are thousands of violent, sexual predators online who haven't actually been caught yet, and as such, no-one knows who they are until they strike.

Getting worked up about one individual like this has nothing to do with people's concern for women and children, and everything to do with the thoughts of vengeance they have on behalf of others...

[Aeroflotgirl]

No momb, it wasent us that tried these individuals, their crimes towards that poor little boy did, and even more so when it was released exactly what they did to him. As a nation we were naturally, shocked, angry and disgusted. They did this themselves when they butured that little boy. That is something a lot of us will never forgot, I was only 13 at the time, but still remember it over 20 years later.

[Viviennemary]

I don't agree with giving perpetrators of horrific crimes new identities. Everyone is at risk when criminals like this are allowed to infilitrate families and workplaces.

[Aeroflotgirl]

I think also you will find that Robert Thompson has got on with a quiet life and kept his nose clean, but Venables is fuelling the hatred for him, with his paedophillic behaviour.

[DrSethHazlittMD]

Momb does have a point. Compare the Bell case and the Venables/Thompson case.

Mary Bell was 11 and charged with killing two boys, aged three and four, by strangling them to death. She later claimed to have been abused by her mother throughout her childhood. Her mother was a prostitute and apparently Mary was also abused by her mother's clients.

Venables and Thompson were one year younger and killed one boy. Thompson seems to have come from an abusive household, just like Bell, but Venables possibly not.

Yet Bell was only charged with manslaughter and not murder, on the grounds of diminished responsibility, was regarded as probably psychopathic and a danger to other children. After serving 11 years she was released, granted a new identity and is now a mother herself and apparently a normal member of society.

Interestingly, she was initially held in the same secure unit that Venables was held in.

[Bazoo23]

Fuck me momb he murdered a baby! Your post gave me chills.

[JanineStHubbins]

No momb, it wasent us that tried these individuals, their crimes towards that poor little boy did,

What a stupid comment. Of course it was 'us' as a society that tried Venables and Thompson. Their crimes didn't 'try' themselves.

[Aeroflotgirl]

Yes drseth this has happened with Robert Thompson, but Jon Venables is continuing his paedophillic behaviour, attracting press to continue their interest. He has brought it on himself.

[YouTheCat]

His behaviour as an adult is what is in question now. He has convictions as an adult.

[Aeroflotgirl]

Janine if they Haden't committed their crimes, we would not be here discussing this.

[Aeroflotgirl]

Janine of course we will have strong opinions on this, what they did to that little toddler was barbaric very few will forget that!

[momb]

Tsoukalosy. I think that you misunderstand me. I am not stating that this man is safe or normal. Neither would I suggest that anyone invites a paedophile into their home. Perhaps it seems unhinged to you that I agree with the European Court's ruling that the way the Bulger case was handled was in fact incorrect, or that these children would have stood a chance of rehabilitation had they not had the world watching their every move. Perhaps Jon Venables would still have gone on to commit further crimes, but at this point we must allow the relevant services to get on with their jobs of monitoring him and stop chasing him all over the country second guessing who and where he is.
Moan: Child/child murders nearly always have a sexual/nudity/dirty element because as children once the line has been crossed it becomes about what else is 'naughty'. As children or preteens nakedness and genitalia are still taboo. Hence the naked girl in Norway and the dismemberment in the Bell murders and the variety of injuries in the Bulger case (which of all things makes one question what images the boys had been exposed to).
We either have faith in the Justice system or we don't. But even if we have doubts, it has to be better than a lynch mob after children, which is what the JB case became.

[Tsoukalosy]

Jeez do you people really have children?! How the hell can you defend this animal snd the other one. Neither should have been let out. At ten years old they knew whst they were doing and JV knows what he is doing now, drinking in Liverpool pubs close to his victims family taunting them?!

[DrSethHazlittMD]

Aeroflot - earlier you said neither should have been released. Should Mary Bell have remained imprisoned for life also? Should we be demanding her new identity be revealed just in case she does something again?

The problem is, unless he actually commits a crime or breaks the terms of his licence (and you've got to catch him doing that), I don't actually see what you can do about it.