Viewers watching The Bulger Killers: Was Justice Done? documentary were furious last night after people on the programme ‘tried to defend’ the two child killers.
The Channel 4 documentary heard from the people involved in the trial of convicted 10-year-old murderers Jon Venables and Robert Thompson.
The boys were found guilty of brutally murdering two-year-old James Bulger after abducting him from a shopping centre in Bootle, Merseyside, in February 1993.
The judge described the murder as an act of ‘unparalleled evil and brutality’ and the two youngsters were both handed eight-year sentences.
Jon Venables (left) and Robert Thompson (right) were just 10 years old when they carried out one of the most infamous murders in British criminal history
Journalist Blake Morrison was covering the trial for the New Yorker and said that the defendants were just ‘two small boys’
But viewers were furious on Twitter and one took exception after hearing someone say it was ‘not right’ to have tried them as 10 year olds
Another Twitter user was furious and said the he ‘could not believe’ there were people ‘trying to defend the killers’
But the programme was slammed by some viewers on Twitter who were perplexed that some people on the show appeared to defend the boys.
Laurence Lee, Venables’ solicitor, and Dominic Lloyd, who defended Thompson during the trial at Preston Crown Court gave their opinions on the case.
Mr Lloyd discussed his attempt to get the trial thrown out after he argued that the boys could not have a fair trial because of the jury had been prejudiced following media reports.
He also said the boys would not have been prosecuted if they would have committed the crime a few months earlier because the age of criminality in England is 10.
He said: ‘If this offence happened a few months earlier it would not have been possible to prosecute Robert and Jon.
‘They were just over the age where you can be prosecuted and I think in that type of case that has to be weighed down firmly in favour of rehabilitation.
‘To do the contrary is to effectively condemn them to life at 10 years of age. Not something I’m comfortable with at all.’
Meanwhile, journalist Blake Morrison, who covered the trial for the New Yorker, spoke about his realisation that the defendants were just ‘two small boys’.
He said: ‘To look at them in the court room to hear them on tapes was to realise that they were small boys, however disturbed, they were small boys.
Jamie Bulger, pictured, was killed 25 years ago next week. The tale of two 10-year-olds killing the two-year-old shocked the nation
Dominic Lloyd, (pictured) who defended Thompson during the trial at Preston Crown Court, discussed his attempt to get the trial thrown out after he argued that the boys could not have a fair trial
One Twitter user also suggested that the show ‘seemed to side’ with the two 10-year-old killers
‘It hardened my feelings that we should not be treating children in the same way we treat our adults and however we judge their crimes.
‘We should not do it in the way it was done in the Bulger case.’
One Twitter user wrote: ‘I cannot believe there are people on this show trying to defend the killers. RIP James Bulger.’
Another user, called Jessica, added: ‘The channel 4 documentary on James Bulger seemed to side with the killers?
‘They knew exactly what they were doing and were 100% culpable for their actions, I hope they rot.’
Twitter user Nuala added: ‘Watching a programme about the James Bulger murder and there’s a grown man saying it’s not right to have tried the 10 year olds as adults.
‘Is that a joke, if a 10 year old can abduct and torture a toddler to death then you’re old enough to be judged as an adult.’