The Jamie Bulger case: the killers

Robert Thompson
Robert’s personality was constructed for defense.
Robert’s father beat his wife mercilessly, and then abandoned the family for good. He was an aggressive alcoholic. He beat Ann in front of the boys and Ann hit her sons with sticks and belts. She attempted suicide with pill overdoses, but eventually turned to drinking as her means of escape. The elder brothers beat the younger.

One sibling became a master thief, taking little Robert with him on his adventures. One brother was an arsonist and suspected of sexually abusing young children (Robert may have been a victim himself.) One of the brothers left to stay in a voluntary care center. Others attempted suicide. The police and social workers knew the Thompson boys well. All of the Thompsons were truants and learned to despise authority.

For all of Robert’s toughness, he still exhibited childish tendencies for which he was teased. He played with troll dolls and sucked his thumb. Molded into hardness beyond his years and forced to repress his own childishness, it is possible that Robert took out his aggressions on an innocent baby, something Robert himself was never allowed to be.

Jon Venables

Jon was attention-seeking at school, cutting himself with scissors. In one incident, he approached another classmate from behind and began choking the boy with a wooden ruler. It took two adults to pry Jon off of the boy.

His father Neil was often unemployed. Jon was the middle child, and both of his siblings had developmental problems. Jon was stuck in the middle, feeling ignored, and perhaps resentful of the attention his siblings received. Sometimes Jon would mimic his older brother’s tantrums.

Susan and Neil Venables had a tumultuous relationship, splitting apart, and then reuniting. The instability affected all three kids. Both parents had histories of clinical depression, and Susan was particularly prone to hysterics. She had been observed physically and verbally assaulting Jon. At the age of seven, Jon was showing signs of anti-social behavior. He hated the neighborhood children who would tease him and his siblings.