Free The Sleep of Reason: The James Bulger Case by David James Smith Page B

him again anyway, and there was still no answer, so they walked back up Gummy’s street and into Walton Village, going in and around the entries for a bit, until they came out by the video shop in the Village, and decided to go inside.
    Like many of the local children, Bobby was often in the video shop, sometimes chatting to one of the young women who worked there, sometimes propped against the counter watching a film or a cartoon, sometimes being cheeky and getting thrown out. His house was only half a dozen doors along the road and his mum was a member of the shop. Bobby sometimes rented films himself, on his mum’s membership.
    The two women in the shop worked alternate nights. Dorothy opened on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays, and Joanne took the other nights. Bobby sometimes ran errands for Joanne, in return for money. He often went in to see if she wanted anything from the chip shop. Joanne had noticed that he was usually mucky and untidy, as little boys are when they have been out playing. Tonight she immediately saw Bobby’s fingernails were dirty and his face covered in muck. He had what looked like a fresh scratch on his face, which was also caked in dirt. This was not strikingly unusual, and she thought he seemed as normal. She did not know or recognise Jon.
    After a couple of minutes she asked them to run a message for her. There was an overdue video at 2 Haggerston Road. They owed £4.75 in fines, and if Jon and Bobby could get the money or the tape, or both, she’d give them 50p each for going.
    The boys went out and, not long after, Joanne’s workmate Dorothy came in for a chat.
    Jon and Bobby walked up Walton Village and turned right into Haggerston Road. Karen at number 2 had rented the video Rosie and Jim ,a children’s drama series featuring two rag dolls that come to life, earlier in the week. She knew it was overdue but her son wouldn’t let her take it back.
    Karen hadn’t long got in from work when there was a knock at the door. Jon and Bobby were on the step.
    ‘The video shop’s sent me. You owe £4.75.’
    Karen left them standing there and went inside for the money. She came back with three pounds.
    ‘And make sure you give it to them.’
    The boys walked back down Walton Village, past the video shop to the Chinese chippie on the corner. Bobby waited outside while Jon went in. Then they both went back to the video shop, and Bobby handed Joanne the three pounds.
    Joanne took the money, and separated a pound coin. She had it in her hand, passing it over the counter to Bobby when the door opened and Jon’s mother came in. She was angry, shouting at the boys about sagging school, and telling them they were going to the police. She grabbed Jon by the hair and Bobby by the wrist, and dragged them both out of the shop.
    Joanne still had the pound coin in her palm.
    Jon’s mother, Susan Venables, had seen the boys as they walked down Walton Village, and had watched Jon going into the chippie. She had been out looking for Jon, with her eldest son Mark, and had immediately hidden when she saw him – in case he saw her and ran off. Once Jon and Bobby were in the video shop she pounced, knowing there was no escape.
    That morning, after Jon had left for school, she had gone shopping with her ex-husband, Neil. They had eventually made their way to her mum’s, and in mid-afternoon her mum had given them a lift back, dropping Neil at his home so that he could meet Jon from school, and taking Susan on to her house in Norris Green, ready to meet Mark and Michelle when they arrived back from their school on the bus.
    Neil had been outside the school in Bedford Road at half three, waiting with the other parents for the children. One of the dinner ladies had told him that Jon had run out of school at mid-day. Neil had tried to phone Susan, but she was already on her way back, on the bus with Mark and Michelle.
    When Susan arrived at Neil’s he told her. ‘No Jon.’ He said the dinner lady had told him