UK - Two boys arrested for attempted supermarket abduction, Liverpool

scapa

Well-Known Member
Joined
Sep 18, 2009
Messages
1,486
Reaction score
12,990
Terrifying if true case out of Liverpool:

Two boys aged 11 and 12 have been arrested in connection with the attempted abduction of a young girl from a Liverpool supermarket as police appealed on Wednesday for the child's mother to contact them.

The girl, thought to be between three and five, was shopping with her mother at the large Asda in Smithdown Road, south of the city centre when the boys allegedly tried to snatch her.

The mother reported the attempted kidnap, which happened on 6 November, to an in-store security guard – but he failed to log it with store managers until he came back on shift the following day.

It was reported to police on 9 November and the boys were arrested on Friday. They have since been released on police bail. Merseyside police are trying to trace the woman, who they say did not leave details with the supermarket.

The Bulger case haunted me as it did many in the UK. I'll never forget that grainy video of little James being led away. Guardian link follows:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/nov/16/boys-arrested-over-child-kidnap
 
Close call in Liverpool. It makes the hairs stand up on the back of one's neck.

The Bulger case was shocking (still is); before it happened I'd read of the Mary Bell murders in Newcastle in 1968, perhaps even more shocking as it came 25 years before the James Bulger killing in 1993.

For those wondering, from Wiki:

Mary Bell

Jon Venables & Robert Thompson
 
CCTV evidence from the New Strand Shopping Centre in Bootle taken on 12 February 1993 showed Thompson and Venables casually observing children, apparently selecting a target.[6] The boys were playing truant from school, which they did regularly.[7] Throughout the day, Thompson and Venables were seen stealing various items including sweets, a troll doll, some batteries and a can of blue paint,[8] some of which were later found at the murder scene. It was later revealed by one of the boys that they were planning to find a child to abduct, lead him to the busy road alongside the mall, and push him into the path of oncoming traffic.[9]

That same afternoon, James Bulger (often called "Jamie" by the press, although never by his family),[10] from nearby Kirkby, went with his mother Denise to the New Strand Shopping Centre. While inside the A.R. Tym's butcher's shop on the lower floor of the centre at around 3:40 pm, Denise, who had been temporarily distracted, realised that her son had disappeared.[3][11] He had been wandering by the open door of the shop while she placed an order, and was spotted by Thompson and Venables.[10] They approached him and spoke to him, before taking him by the hand and leading him out of the shopping centre.[12][13] This moment was captured on a CCTV camera recording timestamped at 15:42.[14][15]

The boys took Bulger on a meandering 2.5-mile (4 km) walk across Liverpool to the Leeds and Liverpool Canal where he was dropped on his head and suffered injuries to his face. The boys joked about pushing Bulger into the canal.[7][16] During the walk across Liverpool, the boys were seen by 38 people.[17] Bulger had a bump on his forehead and was crying, but most bystanders did nothing to intervene, assuming that he was a younger brother.[18][19] Two people challenged the older boys, but they claimed that Bulger was a younger brother or that he was lost and they were taking him to the local police station.[20] At one point, the boys took Bulger into a pet shop, from which they were ejected.[16] Eventually the boys arrived in the village of Walton, and with Walton Lane police station across the road facing them, they hesitated and led Bulger up a steep bank to a railway line near the disused Walton & Anfield railway station, close to Anfield Cemetery, where they began torturing him.[7]
220px-James_bulger.jpg
Bulger_cctv.jpg

125px-Jon_Venables.jpg
100px-Robert_Thompson.jpg

After the trial, the judge released the names
and these photographs of Venables (left) and Thompson (right)

220px-ThompsonVenables.jpg

Mug shots of Venables and Thompson taken at the time of their arrest
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_James_Bulger
 
The James Bulger case still haunts me to this day! I think it was the first I realised how evil young children could be.
Two ten year old boys capable of torturing and killing an innocent toddler. Horrific!

I remember the outrage all around the uk when they were giving new identities and released. People were so angry.
One of the boys ( men now), seems to have kept himself out of trouble. The other, appears in the news now and again. He was sent to prison for having images of child abuse.
He's been back in the news again this year :(
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/james-bulger-killer-jon-venables-5038127
 
Awful case, I am doing my social work dissertation on criminal responsibility and referring to this case and of course the neglect children suffer once they are tried as adults for murder in the UK. Pretty deep stuff I have to say.
 

Members online

Online statistics

Members online
175
Guests online
2,369
Total visitors
2,544

Forum statistics

Threads
589,983
Messages
17,928,644
Members
228,031
Latest member
washingtonsupersleuth
Back
Top