by Child killer Jon Venables will spend another two years in prison once the deadline to appeal his sentence has expired.
Venables was just 10 years old when he and Robert Thompson, who was also 10, tortured and killed two-year-old James Bulger after kidnapping him from a shopping center in Bootle, Merseyside, in February 1993. Both boys were jailed for for life, but released on license with new identities in 2001. However, Venables was jailed again for possession of indecent images of children.
In December last year, Venables lost his bid to get out of jail at a private parole hearing that ruled he still poses a danger to children and could offend again. He had 21 days to file an appeal, but the deadline has passed and he will remain in prison for the next two years.
James’ mother Denise Fergus, 54, told The Mirror it meant he “gives us our lives back for another two years” by “knowing that nothing he can do can affect our lives or anyone else’s.” “. And she added: “He gives us space to breathe and focus on the happiness of our lives.”
According to a summary of the parole board’s decision last month, Venables had “accepted that he had a long-term sexual interest in children/indecent images of children”, despite having engaged in a “considerable amount of work in prison to address this area. risky”. He had a history of drug use and secretly attempting to use the Internet in breach of license conditions.
The panel was “concerned about the continuing issues of sexual concern in this case”, warning that there are “future risks” that he will see further images of child sexual abuse and that he will “progress to offenses where he may have contact with children”.
The body’s decision said: “After considering the circumstances of his offending, the progress made while in custody and on licence, and the evidence presented in the record, the panel was not convinced that release at this time was safe for protection of the public.”
Here, Yahoo News UK looks at the events surrounding Bulger’s death and what happened to his killers:
The murder of James Bulger
James Bulger was at the New Strand shopping center in Bootle, Merseyside, on February 12, 1993 when Venables and Thompson took him away.
James’ mother, Denise, was distracted in a butcher shop at the time her son was taken.
CCTV footage showed the children holding his hand, in an image that shocked the nation.
It was later revealed that 38 people saw the three children together, but most did not try to intervene or left when Venables and Thompson claimed that they were all brothers.
Venables and Thompson carried James to the Leeds and Liverpool Canal, where he fell on his head and suffered facial injuries.
James was then tortured on a railway track in Walton and suffered 10 skull fractures before dying from his injuries.
His body was abandoned on the train tracks to make it look like he had died in an accident and was found two days later by a group of children.
Subsequent tests revealed that he died before being hit by a train.
What happened to Jon Venables?
Venables, along with Thompson, were convicted of murder in November 1993, making them the youngest convicted murderers of the 20th century.
He was sentenced to a minimum of eight years in a juvenile detention center.
Venables was released in 2001 and given a new identity, but was arrested in 2008 after a drunken brawl and given a formal warning by the probation service.
He was also reprimanded for possession of cocaine.
Venables was sent back to prison in 2010 for possession of indecent images of children and was released in 2013 following a parole board recommendation.
However, in 2017 he was arrested again for possession of child abuse images and received a 40-month sentence.
In 2020, the parole board ruled that Venables, whose identity changed twice after his discovery, should not be released.
His hearing before the parole board in November means he could be released from prison before the end of 2023.
What happened to Robert Thompson?
After being sentenced to a minimum of eight years for murder, Thompson was also released in 2001 and given a new identity.
It was reported that during his stay at the Barton Moss secure unit in Eccles, Lancashire, Thompson passed five GCSEs and obtained his A levels.
His new identity is protected by an unprecedented court order, which applies worldwide.
The court order means that attempting to locate his whereabouts – even simply searching for his address – could result in a prison sentence.
Thompson has not reoffended since his release and in 2010 it was reported that he was in a relationship with a man who knows his true identity.
What conversation did it spark?
Immediately following the imprisonment of Venables and Thompson, some sections of the media began to question the reasons behind the murder, focusing on the so-called “video nasties”.
It emerged that the horror film Child’s Play 3 was one of the movies Venables’ father had rented in the months before the murder.
However, it was never established whether Venables had ever seen it and detectives ruled out the influence of that film (or any other) on the murder.
More public conversations were held about the age of criminal responsibility and how society deals with young offenders.
In England and Wales, the age of criminal responsibility has been 10 years since 1963, lower than in much of Europe, where the age is 14 years.
The backgrounds of young offenders, who often have a history of emotional, physical or sexual abuse, have also received attention when it comes to young people involved in serious crimes.
Critics also argue that imprisoning people when they are children increases their chances of reoffending when they are released.
