Two teenagers who were 10 when they kidnapped and killed a toddler have been granted parole, the government announced Friday, drawing immediate protests from the mother of the trusting 2-year-old who walked off hand-in-hand with his killers.
Jon Venables and Robert Thompson, now 18, will be given new identities when they are released to secret locations, which a judge has barred the British media from disclosing.
Their anonymity may prove difficult to maintain -- hours after the decision to release the pair was announced, officials said one newspaper had apparently breached the secrecy order.
"No public interest would be served by pursuing the perpetrators now that the parole board has decided that it is no longer necessary for the protection of the public that they be confined," Home Secretary David Blunkett said in a written statement to parliament.
Denise Fergus, mother of murdered toddler James Bulger, said she was "disgusted with the government and the Parole Board."
"The murderers have walked away with a life of luxury, have been bought homes, given a bank account and 24-hour protection," she said. "Thompson and Venables may think they have got off lightly and can hide. But I know different. I know no matter where they go, someone out there is waiting."
Venables and Thompson lured James from a shopping center in Bootle, near Liverpool, as he waited outside a shop for his mother. A video camera captured pictures of the toddler being led away by the two older boys, and those scenes have been replayed countless times on British television.
The boys dragged and led James 3km through town to a railway line, where they hit him with bricks and metal bars, poured paint in his eyes and finally placed him on the tracks where a train cut him in half.
The decision to release Venables and Thompson, who will turn 19 in August, came less than two months before they faced likely transfer to an adult prison -- a move that a judge warned would be harmful for their rehabilitation. The pair have spent eight years in a children's unit.
As a condition of their release, Venables and Thompson are not permitted to contact each other or any member of James' family. And for the rest of their lives, the pair "are liable to be recalled to custody at any time if there is any evidence that they present a risk to the public," Blunkett wrote.
FALSE DOCUMENTS? Actor William Liao said he was ‘voluntarily cooperating’ with police after a suspect was accused of helping to produce false medical certificates Police yesterday questioned at least six entertainers amid allegations of evasion of compulsory military service, with Lee Chuan (李銓), a member of boy band Choc7 (超克7), and actor Daniel Chen (陳大天) among those summoned. The New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office in January launched an investigation into a group that was allegedly helping men dodge compulsory military service using falsified medical documents. Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) has been accused of being one of the group’s clients. As the investigation expanded, investigators at New Taipei City’s Yonghe Precinct said that other entertainers commissioned the group to obtain false documents. The main suspect, a man surnamed
DEMOGRAPHICS: Robotics is the most promising answer to looming labor woes, the long-term care system and national contingency response, an official said Taiwan is to launch a five-year plan to boost the robotics industry in a bid to address labor shortages stemming from a declining and aging population, the Executive Yuan said yesterday. The government approved the initiative, dubbed the Smart Robotics Industry Promotion Plan, via executive order, senior officials told a post-Cabinet meeting news conference in Taipei. Taiwan’s population decline would strain the economy and the nation’s ability to care for vulnerable and elderly people, said Peter Hong (洪樂文), who heads the National Science and Technology Council’s (NSTC) Department of Engineering and Technologies. Projections show that the proportion of Taiwanese 65 or older would
The government is considering polices to increase rental subsidies for people living in social housing who get married and have children, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said yesterday. During an interview with the Plain Law Movement (法律白話文) podcast, Cho said that housing prices cannot be brought down overnight without affecting banks and mortgages. Therefore, the government is focusing on providing more aid for young people by taking 3 to 5 percent of urban renewal projects and zone expropriations and using that land for social housing, he said. Single people living in social housing who get married and become parents could obtain 50 percent more
Democracies must remain united in the face of a shifting geopolitical landscape, former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) told the Copenhagen Democracy Summit on Tuesday, while emphasizing the importance of Taiwan’s security to the world. “Taiwan’s security is essential to regional stability and to defending democratic values amid mounting authoritarianism,” Tsai said at the annual forum in the Danish capital. Noting a “new geopolitical landscape” in which global trade and security face “uncertainty and unpredictability,” Tsai said that democracies must remain united and be more committed to building up resilience together in the face of challenges. Resilience “allows us to absorb shocks, adapt under
RSS