James Bulger
Child murder victim
Died when: 2 years 333 days (34 months)Star Sign: Pisces
James Patrick Bulger (16 March 1990 – 12 February 1993) was a two-year-old boy from Kirkby, Merseyside, England, who was abducted, tortured, and murdered by two 10-year-old boys, Robert Thompson (born 23 August 1982) and Jon Venables (born 13 August 1982), on 12 February 1993.
Thompson and Venables led Bulger away from the New Strand Shopping Centre in Bootle, after his mother had taken her eyes off him momentarily.
His mutilated body was found on a railway line 2.5 miles away in Walton, Liverpool, two days after his abduction.Thompson and Venables were charged on 20 February 1993 with abduction and murder.
They were found guilty on 24 November, making them the youngest convicted murderers in modern British history.They were sentenced to indefinite detention at Her Majesty's pleasure, and remained in custody until a Parole Board decision in June 2001 recommended their release on a lifelong licence aged 18.
Venables was sent to prison in 2010 for breaching the terms of his licence, was released on parole again in 2013, and in November 2017 was again sent to prison for possessing child sexual abuse images on his computer.
The Bulger case has prompted widespread debate about how to handle young offenders when they are sentenced or released from custody.