Child killer Jon Venables will have his upcoming parole assessment conducted in private after the Parole Board rejected formal applications by victim relatives and national media organisations to hold proceedings in public.
Venables, now aged 44, was convicted alongside Robert Thompson in November 1993 for the abduction, torture, and murder of two-year-old James Bulger. The pair, who were aged 10 at the time of the offence, abducted the toddler from the Strand Shopping Centre in Bootle, Merseyside, in February 1993 before killing him on a railway line.
Under UK legislation, victims of specified crimes and individuals granted lifelong injunctions are subject to statutory protections, with Venables living under court-ordered identity protection since his initial release.
Following his initial conviction, Venables was detained at Her Majesty’s pleasure before being discharged on life licence with a new identity in July 2001. He was subsequently recalled to prison custody in February 2010 after detectives discovered indecent images of children stored on his computer equipment. He secured release on licence again in August 2013, but was recalled for a second time in November 2017 after officers uncovered a further collection of child abuse images on his digital devices.
A previous formal parole bid concluded in late 2023 with a refusal of release, with the panel determining that Venables continued to represent a serious risk of harm to children and could reoffend if discharged into the community.
James Bulger’s mother, Denise Fergus, supported by various national media organisations, submitted applications requesting that the upcoming oral hearing be opened to the public in the interests of justice. Fergus argued that transparency would serve to curb pervasive misinformation surrounding the case, which she stated caused her continual re-traumatisation.
While the Parole Board holds statutory powers to direct public hearings where justified, the chair rejected the requests on security grounds. The ruling determined that an open hearing would make it impossible for Venables to provide frank testimony due to legitimate fears that individuals would use the proceedings to ascertain details to trace and kill him.
Although the wider public and press remain excluded from the proceedings, Denise Fergus has been granted formal permission to attend and observe the oral hearing in private, utilizing victim engagement provisions introduced across the justice system.
Image – Anonymous Artist Impression
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