James Bulger’s killer, Jon Venables, has lost his latest bid for freedom after deciding he should remain behind bars.
The Parole Board said a panel was ‘not satisfied’ that he was suitable for release.
This followed a private hearing in which Venables acknowledged he should stay in prison, telling staff he was not seeking release.
A summary of the panel’s findings, published today, said: ‘At the outset of the hearing, Mr Venables submitted an opening statement to the effect that he accepted the need to undertake further offending work in custody and so was not seeking release.’
The panel considered evidence from probation officers based in the prison and in the community, three psychologists, and a psychiatrist, and all but one found that he should remain in prison.
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In the latest review, a ‘victim personal statement’ was heard by the panel.
It ‘clearly conveyed the devastating impact’ of Venables’ crime and the ‘impact of his offending’.
Members found that there were concerns about how well Venables would work with probation staff if released and ‘how open and honest he would be in supervision’.
They said there is ‘a need for further work in custody to address his sexual interests’.
The summary went on: ‘Mr Venables articulated his protracted and extreme remorse for his crime. Professionals assessed this to be genuine and sincere.’
Venables was 10 when he and Robert Thompson tortured and murdered two-year-old James in 1993 in Merseyside, having led the toddler away from New Strand Shopping Centre in Bootle.
The boy was taken approximately 2.5 miles to a Walton railway line and brutally killed.
He and Thompson, also 10 at the time, are the youngest convicted murderers in modern British history.
Both were handed indefinite detention sentences before their releases on licence in July 2001.
They were given new, lifelong identities, and a court injunction prevented their names or whereabouts from ever being revealed.
While Thompson, now in his early 40s, has maintained a quiet, anonymous life since his release and has not reoffended, Venables has repeatedly reoffended and been returned to police custody.
In February 2010, he was recalled to prison after indecent images of children were found on his computer; he was released on parole in 2013.
Venables was then slapped with a 40-month sentence in July 2017 after more images were found, as well as a prohibited manual.
He has sought parole on several occasions, including in 2020, 2023, and during various hearings, but they have been rejected, with panels ruling that he still poses a risk.
Meanwhile, James’s mother, Denise Fergus, has repeatedly campaigned in her late son’s memory and spoken publicly about her grief while calling for reform of the parole system for serious young offenders.
Earlier this year, after decades of fighting to keep Venables locked up, she demanded his latest hearing be held publicly to combat ‘misinformation’.
She said the case had a ‘retraumatising impact’ on her.
But when a decision was reached, the Parole Board said a public hearing would make it ‘very difficult for Jon Venables to give evidence’.
After a number of media outlets applied for a public hearing, they added that he would be ‘listened to by people who are seeking to get information so that they can kill him’.
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