Protest After Killers of British Toddler Freed

June 25, 2001 - 0:0
LIVERPOOL, England Angry truck drivers took to the streets here in a slow-moving convoy Saturday in protest at a decision by the authorities to free two youths who bludgeoned toddler James Bulger to death, AFP reported on Sunday. Bulger's mother, Denise Fergus, 33, who has said she was "stunned and devastated" at the move to release her son's killers, led the demonstration. The protest in the northwest English city came as the attorney general considered whether a local newspaper had breached a court order protecting the identities of the killers of the two-year-old boy. The announcement Friday that Robert Thompson and Jon Venables, now 18, were to be freed after serving eight years in custody provoked a furious public response. Many feel they have not been punished sufficiently. Bulger's murder in 1993 was one of the most infamous in British criminal history and some vigilantes have said they will hunt down his killers, who were just 10 years old when they carried out the crime, to exact revenge. The peaceful protest in Liverpool, where Bulger was tortured and killed, saw a small group of trucks drive past the cemetery where the toddler is buried. The trucks were cheered on by wellwishers. One truck had a banner on its back, proclaiming: "All We Want Is Justice for James". The decision to release Thompson and Venables was coupled with a court order giving the pair new identities and official protection to safeguard them from revenge attacks. The ***Manchester Evening News*** sparked concern when it printed details of the whereabouts of the pair, appearing to breach the court injunction. The attorney general's spokesman said the article was being studied "as a matter of urgency" and a preliminary decision on it could be announced Monday or Tuesday. Meanwhile, the newspaper said it "Would never knowingly breach an injunction". Any newspaper found to have breached the injunction could face an unlimited fine under Britain's Contempt of Court Act, or a jail term for its editor. In a phone-in to the local newspaper the ***Liverpool Echo***, 40,000 respondents were five to one against Thompson and Venables being released now. Announcing the convicts' release in a statement Friday, Interior Minister David Blunkett said Thompson and Venables "are not free" -- they were released on life licence, which means that if they commit any further offences for the rest of their lives they will be put back in jail. Fergus has warned the killers would not be able to hide under their new names forever, while Bulger's father, Ralph, added: "I feel angry, frustrated and completely let down by the system.