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Original poster

C4 now - the James Bulger case **Trigger Warning - Contains Info about the case** (Title edited by MNHQ)

999 replies

Hairgician · 05/02/2018 21:36

Sat watching this now.

I do not accept the view that those 2 boys were treated unfairly. They murdered that poor little boy and they knew what they were doing and that it was wrong.

They should be rotting in jail. Aibu to say justice not served??

OP posts:
TheBrilliantMistake · 07/02/2018 21:58

Spot on Bertie. A range of factors, events and opportunities converged on a very tragic day which ultimately led to the murder of a child. It might have taken only one of those things to not have happened for a different outcome for all concerned.

This is the very nature of tragedy - event collude to create exceptional situations. They are thankfully rare.

There's every chance that had both boys not bunked off school that day, the other would never have gone on to become a killer. But both did, and it's almost as if the combination of them created a perfect storm.
There were numerous opportunities for the public to intervene that day, and a couple of points where the kids themselves might have decided to leave James somewhere. But each choice was the wrong one.

mikado1 · 07/02/2018 22:01

www.google.ie/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/uk/2010/mar/04/jon-venables-profile-james-bulger-killer

This article certainly suggests some remorse shown.

It's v thought provoking to consider Jon was the visibly upset one during the trial and verdict. Seems to me that he has never come to terms with it.

LindySprint · 07/02/2018 22:05

And I can see why Denise Fergus and Ralph Bulger would want answers about the rehabilitative procedures for John Venables tbh, especially given the report that a care worker / secure unit worker had sexual contact with him when he was 17, and given his almost immediate descent into substance abuse and sex offending (viewing images of the most serious child abuse) after that.

I imagine I would want answers, too. Knowledge is the only currency left after all else is lost.

ginteresting · 07/02/2018 22:07

The last post on the deleted thread summed it up. Venables does not want to be rehabilitated, he is too institutionalised. If the only contribution to normal 'free' society is looking at child abuse, it's no life at all.

LastGirlOnTheLeft · 07/02/2018 22:12

They both had blue paint handprints on their clothes where he had been trying to hold on to them for help.

Oh My!!😥😥😥 Right now I just want to say forget about those demons and concentrate on Denise!!! I hate Thompson and Venables and I will NEVER argue for them unlike some here!

Sleepingbunnies · 07/02/2018 22:17

Couldn’t agree more lastgirl

MongerTruffle · 07/02/2018 22:17

I think it's awful that people think that it's acceptable to imprison children indefinitely. What Venables and Thompson did was horrific, but they were ten years old (although their age doesn't justify their actions). I do think that Venables should be put in prison (or some sort of other detention facility) for much longer than he has been after his subsequent crimes, committed as adults.

Sleepingbunnies · 07/02/2018 22:23

monger I have no problem stating I think 10 yrs old or not yes they should have been detained for life.

Pomegranatepompom · 07/02/2018 22:25

It's incomprehensible. They must have had awful, awful lives.
Whole situation is vile.

Awwlookatmybabyspider · 07/02/2018 22:27

It just doesn't bare thinking about does it, Last girl. What that poor defenceless little baby went through. Makes you go ice cold.

JediJim · 07/02/2018 22:30

Last girl that’s terrible, I wish I never saw that. It’s beyond my thought process why they continued to hurt James when they could have just stopped. Don’t as human beings we have something in us which makes us do or not do something? Almost like they were devoid of any human emotions.

Pomegranatepompom · 07/02/2018 22:32

How do you live knowing you were responsible for something so awful.
I can't imagine any amount of therapy helps?

WingsofaDragonfly · 07/02/2018 22:35

It’s the most emotive, hideous case, I always want to reach into the CCTV picture of them leading him him away and take him to safety, whenever it’s shown. I used to think that they should have at least been kept institutionilsed for the rest of their lives, (and when I was younger, and less informed put down humanely) but I don’t know how I feel anymore, I don’t think 2 10 year olds who hadnt been taught empathy really stood a chance. It’s just horrific, but the real tragedy is not what happened to John and Robert but what James suffered and what Denise suffers now.

LastGirlOnTheLeft · 07/02/2018 22:36

I had a young woman in my class today (I'm an Adult Educator) who was horrifically abused at 3, lost her mum to cancer at 7 and her brother to a boat accident in the same year, became an alcoholic at 17, married her abuser and had her children taken into care!

She left her abusive relationship and is now 28 with 2 more children to a wonderful man...she works at a trauma centre. To my mind, no one has had a more traumatic childhood than this amazing, outstanding person...yet she has hurt NO ONE!! I don't get why people are so wound up with protecting Venables and Thompson...if they killed YOUR toddler, would you defend them??

LastGirlOnTheLeft · 07/02/2018 22:39

Jim, we do!! We definitely do!! I understand these boys had a horrible childhood but come on....thousands of children have the same and they don't KILL!!!

Pomegranatepompom · 07/02/2018 22:41

I think people are tying to understand rather than defend.

Sleepingbunnies · 07/02/2018 22:43

Agree lastgirl I am baffled as to some posters on here. I just cannot empathise or have any ounce of sympathy with those evil scumbags.

Sleepingbunnies · 07/02/2018 22:44

I cannot even begin to try and understand.

user838383 · 07/02/2018 22:45

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Pomegranatepompom · 07/02/2018 22:46

If we can't demonstrate empathy to abused and damaged children, we have absolutely no hope at all.

user764329056 · 07/02/2018 22:46

Has there ever been an investigation into their backgrounds? What kind of upbringing did they have?

NeedsAsockamnesty · 07/02/2018 22:50

I imagine I would want answers, too. Knowledge is the only currency left after all else is lost

I would also want answers but I would have to accept that I wasn’t entitled to some of the information I wanted. There comes a point where my need to know doesn’t meet with my right to know.

Jim, we do!! We definitely do!! I understand these boys had a horrible childhood but come on....thousands of children have the same and they don't KILL!!!

thousands don’t but lots do or come very close to it. Care to hazzard a guess as to approximately how many very seriously violent or serious sexual offenders or both we have that require either secure children’s homes or secure training units?

LastGirlOnTheLeft · 07/02/2018 22:51

Pompom I get that, I used to want to understand as well!! But eventually you reach a point where you realise you CANNOT understand, as these people are so different to you/us!! They are psychotic or psychopaths or else sociopaths...you can't understand them and you don't want to, either!!! To protect yourself, you are better off out of it.

LastGirlOnTheLeft · 07/02/2018 22:54

Amnesty, I would say not many. I have spent the last 20+ years working in trauma centers and not one of my clients had gone on to reoffend.

JediJim · 07/02/2018 22:55

Denise and Ralph are the victims I care about. Regardless of what counselling Thompson and Venanles have had , seriously how do they get up each day and look in the mirror? Surely the guilt would drive you to end it all?..