On 12th February 1993, a very tragic and unfortunate incident took place as two early teens, Venables and Robert Thompson, kidnapped a 2-year old baby.
This happened in a Liverpool shopping mall and both kidnappers were only 10-years old. The news became viral like fire in the woods owing to the uncommon details of the murderers.
Who are the teens and their families?
co.point 3 | uk
So when the media started scrutinizing the child murderers they found shocking details.point 80 | The family background of both kids was dysfunctional with the father either missing or being an abusive one.point 171 | Thompson’s father was a very abusive man who often abused his power on his wife both physically and sexually.point 268 | 1
Thompson grew up in a very destructive family environment where not only abuse but poverty was a problem.point 88 | He has 7 siblings and he was the 5th one and almost all were boys.point 140 | His father left his mother soon enough leaving all the boys to fight with each other.point 210 |
All he saw in his entire life was abusing the power both emotionally and physically.point 70 | His brothers used to fight and overpower each other whenever the got the chance.point 137 | Thompson’s behavior at school was also quite disturbing as he bullied kids his age a lot.point 217 | 1
Whereas, Venables did not go through any domestic violence but he was still a neglected child. His mother did not take much care of him as it seems and he also did not have a father.
This 7-years old boy wants to commit suicide because of constant bullying from kids and grown-ups
Were murderers’ mothers solely responsible for what happened?
co.point 3 | uk
Back in 1993, the media, the court, and the public all scrutinize both kids’ mothers and used them as surrogate criminals.point 113 | Since the whole nation went into shock knowing how the murderers of that little child were also children.point 201 |
A debate started over the causes and motivations of the murderers and the public just could not digest that these kids did it on their own.point 114 | 1
A lot of people searched for surrogate criminals or a gang that these kids killed the child for. But quite shockingly, it turned out that it was just an individual act of both teenagers. The public was aghast by this and even the court could not handle it. They all blamed the mothers as the sole responsibility for bringing children as murderers.
What drove Venables and Thompson to murder the 2-year old?
This is a question that no one has got the upright answer to but since the family environment, we can only make propositions. We believe that no one is innately evil, it is not the nature of man to commit such heinous crimes rather its the nurture.
Since both children, in one way or another, did not see any supervision from a father figure. And their mothers were also depressed, messy, and unable to protect their kids from domestic fights let alone teach them. All they witnessed in their short lives was power abuse and this is what they learned.
With one being molested from his own father and other being subjected to violence from brothers, what else could they grow up with? So, when they got their hands on a vulnerable little child, all they could think of was abusing their power over him.
What is up with Thompson and Venables now?
It has been a lot more than a decade now since Jon Venables is in the special prison. The court charged him with murder but somehow Thompson was not. Venables served the prison for more than 15 years now and due to security reasons, the UK government has to keep changing his identity.
This continuous change in his identity to keep him safe from the wrath of the public is costing the UK citizens a lot. They are paying a huge amount from their tax money and this is not doable for the government anymore.
Since he will be released soon now and the government can’t keep backing him up with taxpayers’ money. They have decided to send him to another country with a new identity like Canada or any Scandinavian country.
No one, until now, know who Jon Venables really is now and why did he really do it? It will always be a shocking mystery to the public and the little child’s mother.