The James Bulger murder and 10 crimes that shook Britain

It is 20 years since James Bulger was abducted and killed in one of the country's most shocking crimes

The image of toddler James Bulger being led away from a shopping arcade by his killers still haunts 20 years on.

Jon Venables and Robert Thompson were convicted of torturing and murdering the youngster, but their life sentences were set to a minimum of just eight years.

The case is one of the most shocking crimes in recent UK history.

We look back at other crimes that shook the nation...

1 - The murder of James Bulger

Robert Thompson and Jon Venables, the two boys jailed in 1993 for beating to death of two-year-old toddler James Bulger (pictured)

Reuters

James Bulger, who was just short of his third birthday, was murdered in February 1993 by two 10-year-old boys who lured him away from a Liverpool shopping arcade while his mother was distracted.

The boys, Robert Thompson and Jon Venables, led the crying toddler on a two and a half mile walk across the city to Walton.

Robert Thompson, 10 years of age, poses for a mugshot for British authorities February 20, 1993

Getty

Jon Venables, 10 years of age, poses for a mugshot for British authorities February 20, 1993

Getty

There, on a rarely used piece of railway, they used bricks and sticks to beat and torture him and finally killed him by repeatedly dropping a 22lbs piece of steel railway track on his head.

The killers then placed his body across a rail hoping people would think he had been killed by a train.

When he was found two days later his body had been cut in half by a freight train but police examinations showed he was already dead before he was run over.

CCTV from the shopping centre showed him being led away by the two older boys, who were soon caught.

Thompson and Venables were tried and convicted, becoming the youngest murderers ever in British history.