His mutilated body was found on a railway line two and a half miles four kilometres away in Walton, Liverpool , two days later. Thompson and Venables were charged on 20 February with abduction and murder. They were found guilty on 24 November, making them the youngest convicted murderers in modern British history.
They were sentenced to indefinite detention at Her Majesty's pleasure , and remained in custody until a Parole Board decision in June recommended their release on a lifelong licence at age He remained in prison in after his appeals for parole were rejected.
The Bulger case has prompted widespread debate about how to handle young offenders when they are sentenced or released from custody. While inside the A. Tym's butcher's shop on the lower floor of the centre at around , Denise, who had let go of her son's hand to pay for her shopping, realised that her son was missing.
The boys joked about pushing Bulger into the canal. Eventually, the boys arrived in Walton. They placed batteries in Bulger's mouth [ 23 ] and may have inserted some into his anus, although none were found there.
Pathologist Alan Williams stated that Bulger suffered so many injuries—42 in total—that none could be identified as the fatal blow. Thompson and Venables laid Bulger across the railway tracks and weighted his head down with rubble, hoping that a train would hit him and his death would be ruled an accident.
