* WARNING*
This story is VERY VERY shocking and disturbing.
The murder of a 2 year old by two 10 year olds:
Jon Venables and Robert Thompson had skipped school on February 12, 1993. That day, in the New Strand Shopping Centre, Bootle, they attempted to walk off with a young child. They had succeeded in luring a two-year-old boy away from his mother, and were in the process of taking him out of the shopping centre, when she noticed him missing, ran outside, and called him back. For this, the boys were later charged with attempted abduction; however, the charge was dropped when the jury failed to reach a verdict.
Bulger being led away by Venables and Thompson (above Bulger), recorded on shopping centre CCTVThat same afternoon, James Bulger (often called "Jamie Bulger" in press reports), from nearby Kirkby, went on a trip with his mother Denise to a nearby shopping centre. Whilst there, at some point Mrs Bulger realised that her son had gone missing. The two boys had taken him by the hand and led him out of the precinct. This moment was captured on a CCTV camera at 15:39.
The boys took Bulger on a 2½ mile (4 km) walk. At one point, they led him to a canal, where he sustained some injuries to his head and face, after apparently being dropped to the ground. Later on in their journey, a witness reported seeing Bulger being kicked in the ribs by one of the boys, to encourage him along.
During the entire walk, the boys were seen by 38 people, some of whom noticed an injury to the child's head and later recalled that he seemed distressed. Others reported that Bulger appeared happy and was seen laughing, the boys seemingly alternating between hurting and distracting him. A few members of the public challenged the two older boys, but they claimed they were looking after their younger brother, or that he was lost and that they were taking him to the police station, and were allowed to continue on their way. They eventually led Bulger to a section of railway line near Walton, Merseyside.
From the facts disclosed at trial, at this location, one of the boys threw blue modelling paint on Bulger's face. They kicked him and hit him with bricks, stones and a 22 lb (10 kg) iron bar. They then placed batteries in his mouth (false reports that the batteries were placed in his rectum were spread by a chain letter [1] which also stated that Bulger's fingers were cut off using scissors, this again untrue.) Before they left him, the boys laid Bulger across the railway tracks and weighed his head down with rubble, in hopes that a passing train would hit him and make his death appear to be an accident involving a careless boy and a train. Two days later, on the Sunday of the next week, Bulger's body was discovered; a forensic pathologist later testified that he had died before his body was run over by an oncoming train.What they got:
The boys, who themselves did not testify in their own defence, were found guilty and sentenced to imprisonment at a young offenders institution at Her Majesty's Pleasure. The trial judge, Mr Justice Morland, set their minimum period of incarceration to eight years. This was increased on appeal to 10 years by the Lord Chief Justice, Lord Taylor of Gosforth. Again, it was increased to 15 years by the Home Secretary, Michael Howard, on the grounds that he was "acting in the public interest". This decision was overturned in 1997 by the Law Lords. In October 2000, Lord Chief Justice Harry Woolf reduced their minimum sentence by two years for their behaviour in detention, effectively restoring the original trial judge's eight-year term.
Epilogue:
In June 2001, after a six-month review of the case, the parole board ruled the boys were no longer a threat to public safety and were thus eligible for release now that the minimum tariff had expired. The Home Secretary, David Blunkett, approved the decision, and they were both released that summer. They were given new identities and moved to secret residence locations under a "witness protection"-style action. They will live out their lives on a 'life licence', which allows for their immediate re-incarceration if they break the terms of their release, that is if they are seen to be a danger to the public.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_James_Bulger