James Bulger killer Jon Venables has turned to religion and claims God will forgive him for his crimes.
Prison sources said he had asked for a Roman Catholic priest to visit him in his cell and spent three hours talking to him. Since then he has made a crucifix out of string and has been given a set of plastic rosary beds.
He also spends hours reading the Bible in his cell.
Venables, who along with Robert Thompson tortured and murdered two-year-old James Bulger in 1993, was sent back to jail last month for breaking his parole when child porn was found on his computer.
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“They think that whatever they did in the past will be forgotten because they have suddenly become religious.
“He’s been going around talking about God and how in his eyes he will be forgiven for his sins……
Tags: Christianity, News, Religion Society
August 17th, 2010 at 12:57 pm
And of course he will be. Sincere repentance brings forgiveness. I hope something happens in the life of this young man which allows him to face his terrible past and make a worthwhile present. None of us is beyond redemption.
I remember the James Bulger murder and its aftermath vividly. My immediate reaction as a mum was to wonder what horror must those those two little boys have endured to make them capable of doing such a thing. Little James was a loved, precious child. The lives of the other two boys, even before the murder, were full of violence and misery. They learned cruelty from their own suffering.
Rehabilitation was always going to be nearly impossible. The evil those two boys represented in the public mind set them apart even within the system. Like Myra Hindley they were seen as monsters rather than real people. The total isolation of this situation would drive most of us mad.
Incidentally, I do wish people wouldn’t keep dragging James Bulger’s poor grieving mother into this. Every time either of the boys is mentioned in the media, she’s put on the spot. Journalists ask her how she feels, and what she thinks should happen next. Her agony, her hatred and bitterness are entirely understandable but cannot form part of the justice system in a mature civilization and it’s downright cruel to suggest otherwise.