opinion of the psychiatrists is that Jon Venables is no longer a threat to the community.
THEIR RELEASE
Although they had originally been sentenced to a term of fifteen years, in December 1999, the European Court of Human Rights decreed that the boys had not received a fair trial and awarded costs and expenses of £15,000 to Robert Thompson and £29,000 to Jon Venables. In October 2000, the newly-appointed Lord Chief Justice Woolf, with the support of the liberal European Court of Human Rights, overturned Robert and Jon’s original sentences and released them in June of 2001 after they had both turned eighteen.
In the end Jon and Robert only served a relatively short sentence of eight years. Upon being freed they were placed in a government protection programme and granted new identities for their own safety. They were given fake birth certificates, passports and national insurance numbers and had money in their bank accounts. It is quite understandable, therefore, that the parents of the murdered James Bulger, feel that rather than being punished for their crime these two boys have been rewarded.
Willie Bosket
Willie Bosket was a petty thief with a propensity for violence. At the age of fifteen he shot and killed two men on the subway in Manhattan. Although only sentenced to five years’ incarceration, Willie’s fate has been sealed, and he is destined to spend the rest of his adult life in American maximum security jails.
It was Sunday, March 19, 1978, and fifteen-year-old Willie Bosket, was riding around on the subways of New York City, looking for someone to rob. Willie had been in and out of the juvenile courts since the age of nine, but as the penalties they issued were so minor, it had done nothing to deter his life of crime. In fact at this time he was waiting to face another hearing for an attempted robbery.
On the plus side of his life, a loving couple had started proceedings to adopt Willie as a foster child. This was something that Willie was desperately looking forward to but, as the state needed time to process the adoption papers, Willie was still free to roam around at will.
On one of his evening escapades, Willie had stolen a wallet containing $380 from a sleeping passenger on a subway train. He had used this money to buy a gun from Charles, who was the man currently living with his mother in Harlem. Charles told Willie that by using a gun he would gain respect on the streets, and sold him a .22-calibre handgun for $65. Willie bought himself a holster and strapped the gun to his leg, and he had to admit that he felt far more powerful just with the knowledge that he possessed a firearm.
It was around 5.30 p.m. on the same Sunday in March, that Willie found himself alone in a compartment on the subway train, with the exception of one man, who happened to be asleep. The passenger was middle-aged and the first thing that Willie noticed was that he was wearing a gold digital watch. Willie kicked the man in the leg to see if he would wake up, but when he got no response he started to work the watch off his wrist. Willie also spotted that the man was wearing a pair of pink sunglasses which reminded him of one of the counsellors at juvenile detention whom he disliked intensely, and this started to irritate him.
Quite suddenly the man opened his eyes and stared directly at Willie. Willie’s immediate instinct was to reach for his gun and he shot the passenger through the right eye of his pink sunglasses, penetrating his brain. The man screamed loudly and immediately put his hands up to defend himself. Willie was now in a state of panic, afraid that the man might not die and would be able to identify his attacker, he once again shot him in the temple. The man immediately fell back against the side of the train and his body slumped to the floor.
As the train reached its final stop near the Yankee Stadium, Willie removed the man’s
THEIR RELEASE
Although they had originally been sentenced to a term of fifteen years, in December 1999, the European Court of Human Rights decreed that the boys had not received a fair trial and awarded costs and expenses of £15,000 to Robert Thompson and £29,000 to Jon Venables. In October 2000, the newly-appointed Lord Chief Justice Woolf, with the support of the liberal European Court of Human Rights, overturned Robert and Jon’s original sentences and released them in June of 2001 after they had both turned eighteen.
In the end Jon and Robert only served a relatively short sentence of eight years. Upon being freed they were placed in a government protection programme and granted new identities for their own safety. They were given fake birth certificates, passports and national insurance numbers and had money in their bank accounts. It is quite understandable, therefore, that the parents of the murdered James Bulger, feel that rather than being punished for their crime these two boys have been rewarded.
Willie Bosket
Willie Bosket was a petty thief with a propensity for violence. At the age of fifteen he shot and killed two men on the subway in Manhattan. Although only sentenced to five years’ incarceration, Willie’s fate has been sealed, and he is destined to spend the rest of his adult life in American maximum security jails.
It was Sunday, March 19, 1978, and fifteen-year-old Willie Bosket, was riding around on the subways of New York City, looking for someone to rob. Willie had been in and out of the juvenile courts since the age of nine, but as the penalties they issued were so minor, it had done nothing to deter his life of crime. In fact at this time he was waiting to face another hearing for an attempted robbery.
On the plus side of his life, a loving couple had started proceedings to adopt Willie as a foster child. This was something that Willie was desperately looking forward to but, as the state needed time to process the adoption papers, Willie was still free to roam around at will.
On one of his evening escapades, Willie had stolen a wallet containing $380 from a sleeping passenger on a subway train. He had used this money to buy a gun from Charles, who was the man currently living with his mother in Harlem. Charles told Willie that by using a gun he would gain respect on the streets, and sold him a .22-calibre handgun for $65. Willie bought himself a holster and strapped the gun to his leg, and he had to admit that he felt far more powerful just with the knowledge that he possessed a firearm.
It was around 5.30 p.m. on the same Sunday in March, that Willie found himself alone in a compartment on the subway train, with the exception of one man, who happened to be asleep. The passenger was middle-aged and the first thing that Willie noticed was that he was wearing a gold digital watch. Willie kicked the man in the leg to see if he would wake up, but when he got no response he started to work the watch off his wrist. Willie also spotted that the man was wearing a pair of pink sunglasses which reminded him of one of the counsellors at juvenile detention whom he disliked intensely, and this started to irritate him.
Quite suddenly the man opened his eyes and stared directly at Willie. Willie’s immediate instinct was to reach for his gun and he shot the passenger through the right eye of his pink sunglasses, penetrating his brain. The man screamed loudly and immediately put his hands up to defend himself. Willie was now in a state of panic, afraid that the man might not die and would be able to identify his attacker, he once again shot him in the temple. The man immediately fell back against the side of the train and his body slumped to the floor.
As the train reached its final stop near the Yankee Stadium, Willie removed the man’s
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