Child killer Jon Venables will remain in prison after a Parole Board panel determined he remains unsuitable for release into the community, confirming that the offender himself stated he was not seeking discharge from custody.
Venables, who was convicted alongside Robert Thompson for the murder of two-year-old James Bulger in 1993, had his case reviewed during a series of private hearings conducted by a specialist parole panel.
The murder occurred in February 1993 when Venables and Thompson, both then aged 10, were truanting from school and snatched two-year-old James Bulger from the Strand shopping centre in Bootle, Merseyside, while his mother was momentarily paying at a butcher’s counter. The two boys abducted the toddler and walked him two and a half miles across Liverpool to a railway embankment in Walton, where they subjected him to torture and beat him to death with bricks and an iron bar.
Following a three-week trial at Preston Crown Court, both boys were found guilty of murder. In June 2001, both offenders were released on life licence and provided with entirely new identities. A permanent High Court injunction remains in effect, legally prohibiting the publication, broadcast, or internet dissemination of any information, names, or images capable of revealing their new identities or current locations.
Despite the second chance granted to him, Venables was recalled to prison custody in February 2010 after detectives discovered a substantial cache of indecent images of children stored on his computer equipment. He was released once again under a second state-funded identity in August 2013, but was recalled to prison in November 2017 after police caught him committing identical offences involving the possession of child abuse material.
During the latest parole review, the panel considered a victim personal statement submitted by James Bulger’s family detailing the ongoing, profound agony caused by the 1993 murder and Venables’ subsequent child abuse offending.
The panel received reports and testimony from community-based and prison-based probation staff, three psychologists, and an independent psychiatrist. All but one of the assessing professionals concluded that Venables remained too dangerous to be managed safely in the community.
A summary of the panel’s written decision recorded:
“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.”
Panel members raised serious concerns regarding how transparent Venables would be with supervising officers if released, noting:
“There was a need for further work in custody to address his sexual interests. Panel members were not satisfied that Mr Venables was suitable for release.”
Venables will remain incarcerated in a closed prison facility where he must complete further psychological interventions targeting his sexual offending behaviour before becoming eligible for any future parole reviews.
Image – Anonymous Artist Impression
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