Extreme behaviour in a child's early years is always cause for concern that can set alarm bells ringing about possible trouble in their life or the potential for worse in later years.
There is a belief, still widely held, that a child can be 'taken over' by such harmful and violent behaviour that it appears to come from a force beyond nature. After the tragedy of James Bulger's murder in 1993, a police officer involved in the case said that the two ten-year-olds responsible were different from other badly behaved boys. 'They were evil. I think they would have killed again,' he said.
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