Judy Croome: Author on the Prowl

Written in 1993, soon after the murder trial of the two ten-year old killers of young Jamie Bulger, this record is sensitive, factual, compassionate and objective.

Thomas was one of the Press Association journalists reporting on this tragedy from the time two-year old James was lured from his mother’s side by two juveniles with pre-meditated murder on their minds and his in-depth knowledge of all aspects of the case is clear.

The book introduces us to all the players; takes us step by heart-wrenching step through the final hours of young James’ life; shows us the Merseyside police commitment to solving the case; discreetly and compassionately shows how this terrible act forever changed all the people it touched; breaks our hearts with the funeral of James; raises crucial questions through the trial; and finally debates what could create two boys who were killers before they were teenagers.

Thomas is to be highly commended for providing an excellent, well-balanced record of a frightening example of the human capacity for evil.