THE father of murdered toddler James Bulger last night begged authorities not
to release killer Jon Venables — warning he will once again target children
if he is freed.
Grieving Ralph Bulger, 42, hit out as a parole board met to decide whether
Venables should be released after serving just half of his two-year prison
sentence for possessing child porn.
Ralph accused authorities of IGNORING a sexual element in little
James’s murder, and slammed them for LOSING vital papers that
could show why Venables is still a danger. He warned that Venables, now 28, WILL
reoffend and will target kids if freed.
Ralph said: “The authorities just do not wish to face the reality that
Venables’ recent sex crimes are related to his original murder of James.
Ignored
“Documents that show the sexual element of James’s murder have been destroyed
and not made available to those considering releasing Venables.
“They say they no longer exist but we have offered copies to them and they
declined. How can they make a proper decision without all the facts?
“There is a clear child sex offence link to the murder of James and Venables’
recent offending. If Venables is let out now he will target children again.
“I just pray that the parole board finally see the truth — that Jon Venables
is and always was a predatory sex killer who will never be changed. He will
always be a danger to children which is why he must be locked up for life.”
Solicitor Robin Makin said Ralph submitted “a lot of material” to
the parole board that released Venables in 2001 from his sentence for
murdering James.
Mr Makin said: “Astonishingly, the parole board have no records, so the
proceedings ten years ago amount to nothing.
“The Ministry of Justice don’t seem to have been able to locate those papers,
so we’ve had to start again.”
Ralph believes the missing files include documents detailing his belief that
there was a strong sexual element to James’s murder.
Those concerns were dismissed, but Ralph said Venables’ later arrest for child
porn proved they should not have been ignored. He believes Venables’
confession that he was “thrill-seeking” when he downloaded the porn proves
he has not been reformed.
Mr Makin added: “The explanation Venables gave was that he was seeking the
‘ultimate thrill’. Ralph’s concern is that he is really seeking to relive
something similar to the original murder.”
The solicitor said previous reports on Venables were “fundamentally flawed”
because they wrongly assumed there was no sexual motive to James’s murder.
He added: “The problem is this — the authorities, because of their liberal
agenda, don’t really want to see Jon Venables for the person that he
actually is.”
Venables and pal Robert Thompson were ten when they abducted and murdered
two-year-old James on Merseyside in 1993 in one of Britain’s most notorious
crimes. The killers spent eight years in secure juvenile units before being
released on licence in 2001 — with new identities — after experts claimed
they were no longer a danger. Venables was returned to prison last year
after being caught with child porn on his computer.
Ralph spoke out after making an emotional victim impact statement to the
parole board via a video link at Liverpool Crown Court. James’s mother
Denise Fergus did not attend the hearing, but submitted a written statement
instead.
A Parole Board spokesman said case files were destroyed after nine months
because the Ministry of Justice has a master copy.
The Ministry said it had provided all the information and evidence requested
by the head of the parole board panel, including key documents from the
original hearing.
The parole board is due to give its decision on Venables in ten days.
Murder ripped my soul out
RALPH Bulger yesterday made an impassioned plea to the parole board to keep
Venables in jail for life. In a highly emotional impact statement, he said:
I feel like a totally different person now and I will never again be who I was
before. They ripped my soul out when they killed James and they killed a
piece of me.
Now I don’t want anyone to know who I am and how I am feeling.
James was adorable, a really cute child whom everyone loved. He was very
mischievous, like a lot of kids, but he had this pup that he adored.
He was a normal, loveable kid getting his first taste of life but he had that
stolen from him.
When James disappeared I thought at first that he’d be OK as it was only kids
who had taken him. When I found out I didn’t know how to tell my wife. How
do you tell someone something so horrific? There was no way of putting it.
I never got to see James’s body because he was so badly mutilated. Everyone
thought it would destroy me — “cabbage” me. My brother Jimmy identified him
and that’s stayed with him forever.
Nightmare
We couldn’t have an open coffin because they bashed his skull in.
I remember carrying his white coffin, it was one of the hardest things that I
have ever had to do — every parent’s nightmare. I’d always wanted to
remember James as he was the last time I saw him alive. But even that was
denied me because I can’t get rid of the images in my head after I was told
what they done to him. I think James must have been crying for me, but I
wasn’t there for him.
When I saw Thompson and Venables at the trial I felt pure hatred, like I’d
never felt before in my life. But I also felt bad that I hated two kids that
much.
I wanted them to get life and it was so hard to sit there while they were
laughing in the dock about killing James, sniggering about what they had
done. I believe they knew what they were doing, because my daughter knew
what was right from wrong when she was four years old.
They decide to smash his skull, take his pants off and drag him on to the rail
track because it would sever him in two.
When they got released it was a victory for the murderers and a knife in the
back for me.
There were no rights for James. His only right was to be murdered. I thought
we’d get justice but we didn’t. The State failed us and let James down.
All I saw was the offenders getting the best of everything when my son was
dead. It was like the State was saying, ‘Go out murder a child and we’ll
look after you’.
It’s hard waking up every morning knowing you have so much hate inside,
thinking what those boys did.
But they are not boys anymore. They are men who will continue to hurt others.
It’s like a cancer that eats away at me. I can’t stop it because it’s
my son that was murdered. I loved my son so much and they ripped him away
from me.
When the pressure got too much I’d drink myself stupid. I didn’t realise at
the time I was just slowly killing myself. I am not an educated man but I
still have feelings. I still bleed and I still love.
I can’t understand why this has happened. I wish this had never happened but I
can’t change anything.
What the killers did made me the way I am today. I don’t like this person but
I have to live with it.
I find it hard to have fun with people, knowing my son was killed as he was. I
put on a smile, but it’s false. People don’t always know what what I’m
feeling, but I know what it’s like inside and it hurts. I wouldn’t want
anyone else to feel like this.