It is more than three decades since James Bulger’s murder and, even now, the names of Robert Thompson and Jon Venables remain almost as well known as that of their victim. The lifetime ban on identifying them has done little to dampen speculation on the pair’s whereabouts through the years.
Yet the latest theory to emerge suggests that Thompson and a notorious Liverpool gangster are, in fact, one and the same person. It is impossible to pinpoint exactly where and when the rumour began (and let’s be clear, it is only an outlandish rumour and one for which the Daily Mail has not unearthed any clear evidence). But it has gained enough traction on social media for Sam Walker – the underworld figure in question – to issue an angry denial.
Little has been heard of Thompson, who turned 43 last month, since he was released in 2001 after serving eight years in a young offenders’ institute for the murder of two-year-old James. He reportedly studied for GCSEs and A-levels after his release, developed an interest in art and settled into a long-term relationship with another man – who does know about his past.
Meanwhile, 42-year-old Walker – who has more than 400,000 followers on TikTok and frequently goes online to boast about his illegal exploits – has been described as ‘one of the most prolific and enigmatic criminals’ to emerge on Merseyside in recent decades. He has more than 45 convictions and has been linked to around 130 offences.
Among the entries on his criminal CV is a four-and-a-half year jail sentence in 2008 after being caught dealing heroin and crack cocaine on the streets of Widnes and Runcorn in Cheshire. His gang earned up to £2,500 a day before being caught in a police sting that saw £12million of drugs seized along with luxury cars, cash and jewellery.
He made headlines in 2014 when he publicly threatened former England footballer Ross Barkley, then an Everton player, in a row over a woman. In an online message, Walker wrote: ‘Inbox me a number for you, ya little rat! You know wot this is about so don’t play stupid or your footie career will come to an end! [sic]’
Walker was at the centre of further controversy in 2019 when it emerged he was running his own YouTube channel from behind bars. Last year he was given a suspended sentence after being caught live-streaming the proceedings in a Dublin court, where he was being sentenced for motoring offences.
He previously became known for his courtroom outbursts, referring to sentences being imposed as a ‘stitch-up’ and describing one hearing as a ‘kangaroo court’. Perhaps more surprisingly, he appeared in a video – filmed by himself apparently – showing him surrounded by cheering locals after he oversaw the installation of a water supply system in a slum in Freetown, the capital of Sierra Leone.
Throughout the marathon journey – which took him through Belgium, Spain, Morocco and the Sahara desert – he taunted the authorities back home on social media posts. ‘Better luck trying to catch me when I go out of the country next, Merseyside Police,’ said one.
(It later emerged that he wasn’t even wanted by the force at the time, although police in neighbouring Cheshire were looking for him after he missed a court hearing over allegedly driving while disqualified.)
Yet somewhere along the way, the whispers linking Walker and Thompson – despite the slight difference in their ages – took root. One individual posted on social media: ‘The noses are similar, the mole! There’s something not right about Sam Walker!’
Others were less convinced, however. One person remarked that ‘having a bit of banter is all well and good’, but that linking Walker and Thompson ‘purely out of hatred’ was ‘way across the line’.
For his part, Walker was sufficiently concerned by the rumours to issue a recorded denial – a move undoubtedly prompted by the strong feeling about the February 1993 murder.
Thompson and Venables – who is currently in prison again having been jailed twice for possessing images of children being sexually abused – abducted James from a shopping centre in Bootle, Merseyside, before torturing and killing him.
In a video captioned as ‘a message’ to those accusing him of being involved ‘with the James Bulger thing’, a clearly furious Walker warns that he is ‘itching to get hold of the trolls’.
He says: ‘Every Scouser in Liverpool, and further afield, still feels a lot about James Bulger losing his life… it was a bad time in everyone’s life.’
Addressing his accusers directly, he adds: ‘I don’t give a f*** who’s in your house – every single one of youse will be targeted. Not by me, it’s out of my hands, I’ll be sat at home.
‘So just for the record, in case any police arrest me after it happens to youse, it’s nothing to do with me.’
Strong words, indeed. Such fighting talk clearly echoes the revulsion that continues to be felt over one of the most unspeakable crimes in British criminal history. But it also hints at the fear felt by a lowlife thug at being mistaken for one of the murderous pair who perpetrated it.
