Child killer Jon Venables to have private parole bid despite plea from James Bulgers’ mother

Child killer Jon Venables’ latest parole bid for freedom will be held privately despite a plea from James Bulger’s mother to make it public.

The 44-year-old, who tortured and murdered two-year-old James Bulger in 1993, will have his case heard by parole chiefs at an oral hearing more than two years after his last appeal.

James’s mother, Denise Fergus, demanded that the hearing be held in public to help combat ‘misinformation’ about the case, which had a ‘retraumatising impact’ on her.

Parole Board hearings are usually held in private, but they can be made public ‘in the interests of justice’.

A number of media organisations also applied for a public hearing.

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Denise Fergus, 33, centre, the mother of the murdered little boy James Bulger leading a march of more than 300 people in protest at the expected release of his killers. She led the procession through the streets of her home town in Kirkby, Merseyside * ... to highlight her Justice for James campaign. The campaign was set up last December after the Lord Chief Justice, Lord Woolf, said the youngster's killers' tariff should be over. Marchers were walking two miles to St Mark's Church in Northwood, where a memorial service was being said for James to mark the eighth anniversary of his march from Kirkby Town centre . * Library file picture dated 10/02/01 of Denise Fergus, 33, centre, the mother of the murdered little boy James Bulger leading a march of more than 300 people in protest at the expected release of his killers. She led the procession through the streets of her home town in Kirkby, Merseyside. It has been released today June 22nd 2001, James Bulger's killers have been granted their freedom by the Parole Board, according to sources close to the case.The board has decided they should be released on life licences, the sources said.The results of parole hearings held earlier this week for Jon Venables and Robert Thompson were being confirmed later today by the Home Secretary David Blunkett.

In reaching its decision, the Parole Board said a public hearing would make it ‘very difficult for Jon Venables to give evidence’.

They said the public hearing would be ‘being listened to by people who are seeking to get information so that they can kill him’.

In 2023, the Parole Board rejected the bid and found he still posed a danger to children and could go on to offend again.

Venables was jailed alongside Robert Thompson after the pair of 10-year-olds snatched James from a shopping centre in Bootle, Merseyside, in February 1993.

391286 01: FILE PHOTO: Robert Thompson, 10 years of age, poses for a mugshot for British authorities February 20, 1993 in the United Kingdom. Both Thompson and Jon Venables were 10 years-old when they tortured and killed 2 year-old James Bulger in Bootle, England. The government announced the release of the young men, now the age of 18, despite a public outcry to keep them in jail, June 22, 2001. The boys will be given new identities which a judge has barred the British media from disclosing. (Photo Courtesy of BWP Media via Getty Images)

Venables was released on licence in July 2001 and recalled to prison in February 2010 after indecent images of children were found on his computer.

He was once again freed in August 2013 and then called back in November 2017 for the same offence, with parole judges considering his case again in September 2020.

A spokeswoman for Ms Fergus previously said her application to observe the hearing had been granted.

Victims have been able to attend parole hearings held in private under reforms rolled out nationally in April as part of efforts to boost confidence in the justice system.

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Original source Child killer Jon Venables to have private parole bid despite plea from James Bulgers’ mother

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