Man falsely accused of notorious child slaying

This extract from CCTV footage shows Jamie Bulger being led away by Jon Venables. Photo / Supplied

An English expat living in Auckland is the target of a hate campaign wrongly accusing him of the murder of UK toddler James Bulger in 1993.

Pamphlets alleging notorious child killer Robert Thompson was living under an assumed identity in New Zealand were dropped in letterboxes on the Whangaparaoa Peninsula.

The letter, claiming to be from a UK group called James Bulger's Memorial Group of Concerned Citizens, stated: "Are You Living Next to a Monstrous Murderer?"

They claim: "Thompson's new identity ... we suspect could be that of a young man living at Whangaparaoa Peninsula with UK relatives. Do you recognise this boy as a man of approximately 27 years of age living in your neighbourhood? If so please ensure you exercise normal safety precautions."

It identified a local man by first name and stated that he was being harboured by UK relatives. The Herald on Sunday has chosen to protect the man's privacy.

After being notified, police contacted Interpol and Immigration New Zealand but were satisfied the man wasn't Thompson and dismissed the letter-drop as "scaremongering".

Relatives of the man say he is the subject of a vendetta and they will do "whatever it takes" to bring those responsible for the pamphlets to justice.

The man's uncle, who lives in Whangaparaoa, said he was appalled by the letter-drop in June last year.

"It's bulls***. If my nephew would have done what those kids done he would no longer be my nephew. He wasn't brought up like that. He's a good kid. He can be a bugger but he's not a murderer. He never has been. He's a real hard-working guy. How the hell could he get into this country if he had done something like that?"

The uncle moved to New Zealand from England in 1996, three years after Bulger, 2, was brutally murdered by 10-year-olds Jon Venables and Thompson in Liverpool.

Bulger's mutilated body was found on a railway line two days after his disappearance.

"I just remember watching it on the news thinking 'how horrific is this?' The parents watched a video of him being taken to his death," said the uncle.

"When you think about it, why ... would anyone know about James Bulger here?"

His nephew moved to New Zealand four years ago and is applying for citizenship.

The uncle vowed to find those behind the letter-drop.

"When we find out who done them pamphlets they are going down.

"I will take them to the cleaners."

His wife said: "It's horrendous. It's the most ludicrous thing I have ever heard."

Whangaparaoa sergeant Mark Ovington said the leaflet was reported to police last year, but they had no idea who wrote or distributed it.

He called the leaflet drop a "scare-mongering exercise" and said: "We're not prepared to discuss what we've done or haven't done.

"We made enquiries and are satisfied it's not accurate."

Thompson and Venables were released from youth detention centres in 2001 and released to secret locations under new identities.

A British newspaper alleged Thompson would be sent to New Zealand, a claim strenuously denied by then Prime Minister Helen Clark.

Venables has since been jailed again, for possessing child pornography.

The crime that shocked the world

In 1993 2-year-old James Bulger was abducted from a shopping centre in Bootle, Liverpool, where he had been shopping with his mother.

He was tortured, beaten and stoned. Two days later his body was found lying across train tracks 3km away.

Less than a week later, two 10-year-old local boys, Robert Thompson and Jon Venables, were arrested after CCTV footage showed them leading the toddler away.

Justice Moreland described the act as "unparalleled evil and barbarity".

A 280,000 signature petition was presented to the British Government calling for the boys to live out their lives in prison.

In June 2001, the 18-year-old Thompson and Venables walked free under new identities.

Venables returned to prison last March on a two-year sentence after being convicted for downloading child pornography. Almost 60 sexually explicit images - some of children as young as two - were found.