I actually wrote a lot of this three years ago, on the 25th anniversary, but it still applies today.
I was 19 when it happened and living in the North West. I was actually getting ready to go out on a Friday night and a little boy's photograph kept coming up on the local news. I was struck by how much he looked like my brother, who wasn't much older than James at the time. I remember exactly where I was when I heard that his body was found on the Sunday, Valentine's Day.
I was absolutely obsessed about it. I talked about it all the time. I couldn't stop thinking about how much James had suffered, especially as rumours were rife, with being fairly local, about what had actually happened to him. It was almost like he belonged to the nation. Paul Britton described it in his book The Jigsaw Man as a melancholy fog that hung over the country and I really felt that.
Ralph & Denise Bulger (now Fergus) did a couple of interviews and the thing that stayed with me was that when they returned home to their flat, James' fingerprints were on their fireplace and she just couldn't bring herself to wipe them away. They also had a stillborn daughter, Kirsty, before James. It just felt beyond cruel what had happened to them.
I remember the trial and walking into the newsagents on the way to work and seeing the headline that his body had been cut in half by a train. I was literally rooted to the spot and couldn't believe what I was reading.
I followed the trial, although there was no live reporting on the internet back then, and I was very happy that they were convicted. And I wanted them hung.
I feel very differently now. And I'm embarrassed and ashamed that I ever felt that way about children.
I wrote a piece for my GCSE coursework in support of the death penalty and I never thought my view would change. I can honestly say I'd never met anyone who didn't agree with the death penalty until I joined Digital Spy. Now I live with a full on bleeding heart liberal. We had very different upbringings. He is more educated than me - I'm not stupid by any means but I'm from a very working class, Northern council estate whereas he's solidly middle class, went to university and is very liberal. He has never hammered away at me on supporting the death penalty but he asked me one question about it.....if you kill murderers, how does that make you better than them? And I still can't answer it.
You cannot kill children no matter what they have done. And you can't lock them away forever. I understand that now. But should they have served longer? Yes, absolutely. Eight years is quite simply not enough and in no small part why this case continues to enrage people and still make the headlines every other week. I believe Ralph & Denise would have been more accepting and less angry if they'd served longer. They also may have been able to find a small amount of peace, which I don't feel either of them have with the media keeping them riled up by approaching them for a sound bite every time something happens. I also cannot help but feel if they were able to put their points across in a less inflammatory way, Thompson & Veneables would have definitely served longer. She may deny it now but Denise Fergus wanted them dead.
But there has to be hope of rehabilitation for children. In the face of something so awful, so tragic, there just has to be hope. Thompson seems to have done better out of the two from the limited information that's available. And it's important to remember that the vast majority of what we think we know is just pure speculation. Venables is clearly still a problem. Ok, so he hasn't murdered anyone else (that we know of) but he has broken the terms of his life licence on numerous occasions now. How many more chances do you give him?
I've said this many times on here but I think the trial judge made a terrible, terrible mistake in naming them and I'm sure he severely regrets it now. I hope he does anyway. Because what did naming them actually achieve? Well, we got four photographs to look at and say "oh, aren't they evil". It has also cost millions of public money to protect them because of it. Interestingly, one of the junior prosecuting barristers involved in the case is now a judge and he oversaw the Angela Wrightson case in Hartlepool, who was murdered by two very vulnerable, very damaged young teenage girls. He chose not to name them and gave very detailed reasons why. I'm sure the ongoing fallout from the decision to name Thompson & Venables was a huge factor. The fact that rent a bleeps like Kelvin McKenzie, former editor of The Sun, and Facebook vigilantes fail to understand that it's down to people like them why lifetime anonymity is needed is certainly not lost on me.
But overall was justice done? No. Not for James. Not for his parents.
I was 19 when it happened and living in the North West. I was actually getting ready to go out on a Friday night and a little boy's photograph kept coming up on the local news. I was struck by how much he looked like my brother, who wasn't much older than James at the time. I remember exactly where I was when I heard that his body was found on the Sunday, Valentine's Day.
I was absolutely obsessed about it. I talked about it all the time. I couldn't stop thinking about how much James had suffered, especially as rumours were rife, with being fairly local, about what had actually happened to him. It was almost like he belonged to the nation. Paul Britton described it in his book The Jigsaw Man as a melancholy fog that hung over the country and I really felt that.
Ralph & Denise Bulger (now Fergus) did a couple of interviews and the thing that stayed with me was that when they returned home to their flat, James' fingerprints were on their fireplace and she just couldn't bring herself to wipe them away. They also had a stillborn daughter, Kirsty, before James. It just felt beyond cruel what had happened to them.
I remember the trial and walking into the newsagents on the way to work and seeing the headline that his body had been cut in half by a train. I was literally rooted to the spot and couldn't believe what I was reading.
I followed the trial, although there was no live reporting on the internet back then, and I was very happy that they were convicted. And I wanted them hung.
I feel very differently now. And I'm embarrassed and ashamed that I ever felt that way about children.
I wrote a piece for my GCSE coursework in support of the death penalty and I never thought my view would change. I can honestly say I'd never met anyone who didn't agree with the death penalty until I joined Digital Spy. Now I live with a full on bleeding heart liberal. We had very different upbringings. He is more educated than me - I'm not stupid by any means but I'm from a very working class, Northern council estate whereas he's solidly middle class, went to university and is very liberal. He has never hammered away at me on supporting the death penalty but he asked me one question about it.....if you kill murderers, how does that make you better than them? And I still can't answer it.
You cannot kill children no matter what they have done. And you can't lock them away forever. I understand that now. But should they have served longer? Yes, absolutely. Eight years is quite simply not enough and in no small part why this case continues to enrage people and still make the headlines every other week. I believe Ralph & Denise would have been more accepting and less angry if they'd served longer. They also may have been able to find a small amount of peace, which I don't feel either of them have with the media keeping them riled up by approaching them for a sound bite every time something happens. I also cannot help but feel if they were able to put their points across in a less inflammatory way, Thompson & Veneables would have definitely served longer. She may deny it now but Denise Fergus wanted them dead.
But there has to be hope of rehabilitation for children. In the face of something so awful, so tragic, there just has to be hope. Thompson seems to have done better out of the two from the limited information that's available. And it's important to remember that the vast majority of what we think we know is just pure speculation. Venables is clearly still a problem. Ok, so he hasn't murdered anyone else (that we know of) but he has broken the terms of his life licence on numerous occasions now. How many more chances do you give him?
I've said this many times on here but I think the trial judge made a terrible, terrible mistake in naming them and I'm sure he severely regrets it now. I hope he does anyway. Because what did naming them actually achieve? Well, we got four photographs to look at and say "oh, aren't they evil". It has also cost millions of public money to protect them because of it. Interestingly, one of the junior prosecuting barristers involved in the case is now a judge and he oversaw the Angela Wrightson case in Hartlepool, who was murdered by two very vulnerable, very damaged young teenage girls. He chose not to name them and gave very detailed reasons why. I'm sure the ongoing fallout from the decision to name Thompson & Venables was a huge factor. The fact that rent a bleeps like Kelvin McKenzie, former editor of The Sun, and Facebook vigilantes fail to understand that it's down to people like them why lifetime anonymity is needed is certainly not lost on me.
But overall was justice done? No. Not for James. Not for his parents.
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