Thompson-Venables

In 1993, two-year-old James Bulger was in a shopping centre with his mother when he was abducted. CCTV footage showed him being led away by two boys, 10-year-olds Robert Thompson and Jon Venables. The two were playing truant from school and later admitted that they had been planning to abduct a child. They led Bulger around Liverpool, before finally taking him to the railway tracks and viciously assaulting him. They left his body on the train tracks.

Venables and Thompson were later sentenced for Bulger’s murder, becoming the youngest convicted killers of the 20th century. They were released from prison after serving eight years and given new identities. Venables has gone on to reoffend, but Thompson has not.