My James: The Heartrending Story of James Bulger by His Father

Author:Ralph Bulger, Rosie Dunn [Bulger, Ralph & Dunn, Rosie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780283071683
Amazon: 0283071680
Publisher: Sidgwick & Jackson Ltd
Published: 2013-01-13T20:00:00+00:00

11

The Battles Begin

Shortly after the trial, on 29 November, the judge recommended that the two boys serve a minimum sentence of eight years, which would have meant they would be eligible for release at the age of eighteen. That was the very first kick in the teeth we received from the judicial system. We learned of the sentence from our police liaison officers who came to visit me and Denise, and I suspect they were as gutted as I was, but both Jim and Mandy managed to keep their feelings in check because I don’t think they wanted us to feel any worse than we already did. At least we were forewarned before the news got out, and we were able to bunker down and get out of the way of the inevitable media frenzy that was on its way.

‘Eight fucking years! Is that all my son’s life was worth?’ I screamed in despair.

How could they judge that the life of a tiny baby, who suffered so much pain, be worth so little? It was as if someone was telling us that James’s life meant nothing!

I understood that a minimum tariff didn’t guarantee their release, but even the possibility of them being considered for freedom at that point was horrendous enough. If they only served eight years in juvenile detention, they would still be teenagers when they were released. What kind of a message was that sending out to society? It says that if you go and torture and murder a child you can be free again a few years later. I felt sick to the core and deeply disgusted with a country that I had always held in such high esteem.

After the trial judge set his tariff, the Lord Chief Justice at the time, Lord Taylor of Gosforth, almost immediately increased the minimum tariff to ten years without explanation, but that was still nowhere near enough in my eyes. They would still only be twenty if they were released. Both Denise and I knew we had to do something, so we launched a petition calling for the tariff to be substantially increased. Our campaign was immediately backed by the Sun newspaper and we were grateful that our message was being put out to the public. We threw everything we had at trying to get as many people as possible to sign the appeal, and that included a limited number of press interviews. This is where Denise and I were at our best. When our backs were against the wall, we came out fighting. It was a natural instinct for us both. We may not have been very good at talking to one another, or expressing our emotions in words, but this was one way we could show how we felt about our son in actions.

The campaign to collect signatures was not going to be an overnight job, but at least we had got it started. The Sun had printed a cut-out coupon in the paper for people to sign and send off if they agreed on the need to increase the minimum tariff for Thompson and Venables.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.