10 Murder Trials That Shocked The World
2. Robert Thompson And Jon Venables (1993) - The Murder Of Two-Year-Old James Bulger By Two Children
Few criminal cases have ever been as emotionally charged as the abduction, torture and murder of two-year-old James Bulger - mainly due to the fact it was carried out by two 10-year-old boys, Robert Thompson and Jon Venables. The youngest convicted murderers in modern English history, they were imprisoned in November 1993 until they reached adulthood and were released with new identities and on lifelong licences in June 2001 - bringing into question the British justice system.
The fact that two 10-year-old boys could commit such a horrendous act raised the question of how old someone should be before they can be deemed to be criminally responsible. Thompson and Venables had skipped school, visited the New Strand Shopping Centre in Bootle, Merseyside, before leading James Bulger away from his mother Denise.
After taking the child on a 2.5-mile walk across Liverpool to the Leeds and Liverpool Canal, the boys unspeakably tortured James before killing him and leaving him on the railway tracks.
The fact two 10-year-old boys could commit such a vicious and calculated crime meant this case drew worldwide attention, and shocked the public.
Then-Shadow Home Secretary Tony Blair said: "We hear of crimes so horrific they provoke anger and disbelief in equal proportions... These are the ugly manifestations of a society that is becoming unworthy of that name."
Questions were raised about how children's consumption of violent films impacted on their future actions, and also whether or not the boys should ever be released. And, following the sentence, The Sun newspaper issued a petition bearing almost 280,000 signatures in a bid to increase the time the boys would serve, and then-Home Secretary Michael Howard insisted the pair would be in prison for a minimum of 15 years.
However, this increased term was overturned in 1997 by the House of Lords, again creating a public outcry. Venables was imprisoned for a second time on suspected child pornography charges in March 2010, again bringing to the fore one of the most-controversial cases in English legal history.