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Forensic Case Study

Two 10-year-old boys, Robert Thompson and Jon Venables, abducted, tortured, and killed 2-year-old James Bulger in 1993. Forensic evidence, including DNA matching blood found on one boy's shoe to the victim, paint found on their clothes matching that thrown on the victim, and a shoe print matching one boy's shoe left on the victim's face, provided absolute proof that Thompson and Venables were at the crime scene. This evidence, combined with CCTV footage and witness statements, led to their prosecution as the youngest murderers in UK history.

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Shiela Mae Ancheta
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373 views

Forensic Case Study

Two 10-year-old boys, Robert Thompson and Jon Venables, abducted, tortured, and killed 2-year-old James Bulger in 1993. Forensic evidence, including DNA matching blood found on one boy's shoe to the victim, paint found on their clothes matching that thrown on the victim, and a shoe print matching one boy's shoe left on the victim's face, provided absolute proof that Thompson and Venables were at the crime scene. This evidence, combined with CCTV footage and witness statements, led to their prosecution as the youngest murderers in UK history.

Uploaded by

Shiela Mae Ancheta
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Forensic Case Study: The Murder of James Bulger

James Patrick Bulger was murdered on the 12th of February 1993 at the age of two. He was
abducted, tortured, and killed by two ten-year-old boys Robert Thompson and Jon Venables. Bulger
was led away from his mother when she was in A.R. Tyms butcher shop in the New Strand Shopping
Centre in Bootle, England. Jamie’s mother contacted security as soon as she realised her son was
missing and the police were called. While reviewing the shopping centre’s CCTV footage, they saw
that Thompson and Venables had approached Bulger before taking him by the hand and leading him
out of the shopping centre at 15:42. Thomson and Venables then lead Bulger from there to a railway
track 2.5 miles away in Walton, Liverpool. This would later be confirmed by witness statements who
saw the three boys together and, at the time, assumed they were family. Once arriving at the railway
track, Thomson and Venables threw paint into Bulger’s face, some of which went into his left eye. The
two boys threw stones at him, kicked him, and beat him with bricks. They then hit him with an iron
bar, a partially rusted railway fishplate that was 20ins long and weighed 22lbs.

Before leaving the body, Thomson and Venables laid Bulger across the railway tracks and placed
rubble over his head, in the hope that a train would hit him and make his death appear to be an
accident. After they left the scene, Bulger’s dead body was cut in half by a train.

His mutilated body was found on the railway line two days later, on February 14th 1993.

The first breakthrough in finding James’s killers occurred when a woman called the police after she
recognised CCTV images of the two boys, Thompson and Venables, on national television. She had
seen the two boys the day James Bulger went missing and knew that they were skipping school. The
police responded to the woman’s call and the two boys were arrested. The forensic evidence that was
found and submitted to the jury was vital to the prosecution.

One piece of evidence that put Thomson and Venables at the scene of the crime was the blood found
on the right shoe of one of the accused. A home office forensic scientist, Graham Jackson, said that
there was only a one in a billion chance of error. DNA testing would have been used to match the
blood found on the shoe to that of the victim’s. Forensic DNA testing is a process that begins with the
DNA being isolated from the cells – in this case, blood cells -and then is duplicated by a process
called “polymerase chain reaction”. This process copies a specific stretch of DNA over and over,
making it easier to analyse. The genetic code is split into separate chunks and then analysed to
create a genetic fingerprint. Unlike actual fingerprints, there is a small chance that two different
people could have the same genetic markers, especially if they are related to one another. To
minimize this risk of error, scientists will test more than one genetic marker from a strand of DNA.
Bulger’s blood was also found on several bricks and on the 22lb iron bar.

A forensic pathologist, Dr Allan Williams, counted 22 wounds on James’s head and face and another
20 on his body. The wounds were so numerous that a final killing blow could not be established. Dr
Williams determined that James would have already been dead by the time the train hit him as he
had been stuck at least 30 times and would have endured “a short period of survival” after the attack
began. The deep bruising on James’s head, along with a cut that went down to the skull and the
extensive damage to the back of his head, suggested that bricks and the iron bar had been used.
Bulger sustained extensive head injuries, including a haemorrhage at the centre of his brain. Dr
Williams also noted a severe blow to James’s face that left a large bruise and grooved mark on the
area around the right cheek and ear.

A forensic scientist named Philip Rydeard was able to match the markings left on James’s right cheek
with a shoe worn by one of the boys. The shoe had an unusual arrangement of lacing rings as well as
a distinctive stitching pattern.

Paint found at the crime scene and on James Bulger’s body was also found on the clothes of
Thompson and Venables. Paint can be analysed in a few different ways to find a match: solvent tests,
gas chromatography, and infrared spectrometry. Solvent tests involve exposing the paint samples to
different chemicals and examining any changes that might take place (ie, a change in colour). Gas
chromatography is used as a means of telling the difference between two paints that have the same
colour, but have a different chemical composition. The paint sample is heated until it breaks down
and is then separated into its components. Infrared spectrometry makes use of infrared light to
determine the type of paint by examining the way that the paint’s various components absorb or
reflect infrared light.

Over the course of the trial, thirty-eight witnesses took the stand and said they had seen Bulger
walking with Thompson and Venables, none of which could have ever foreseen the events that
unfolded later that day.

In addition, the 27 bricks, stones, and the 22lb iron rod used as weapons by Thompson and Venables
were all presented to in court to eliminate any idea that the boys’ may be innocent.

To conclude, the forensic evidence provided during the trial of Robert Thompson and Jon Venables
was crucial to their prosecution. The DNA evidence from the traces of blood found on their clothes, as
well as the shoe mark left on James Bulger’s cheek, and the paint found on both the victim and the
perpetrators’ clothing, provided absolute proof that Thompson and Venables had been at the scene of
the crime.

Backed up by CCTV footage and witness statements, this evidence lead to the prosecution of
the youngest murderers in UK history.

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