James Bulger’s mother’s joy as parliament announces U-turn

James Bulger’s mother says Parliament has ‘finally listened’ after agreeing to debate her son’s murder and why his killer Jon Venables has been free to commit more offences.

Denise Fergus has welcomed the decision to discuss a 211,000-strong petition about the horrific case and is still calling for a public inquiry.

Ms Fergus is demanding answers to ‘mysteries’ surrounding the 1993 murder and killer Jon Venables’ time in the prison system including decisions about his parole.

Venables and Robert Thompson were both 10 when they kidnapped, tortured and murdered two-year-old James in Liverpool 25 years ago.

Last month, Venables – who lives under a new identity – was convicted of possessing indecent images of children for a second time and jailed for three years and four months. 

James Bulger's mother Denise says she hopes she can get 'some justice' for her son after a campaign forced a debate in Parliament

James Bulger’s mother Denise says she hopes she can get ‘some justice’ for her son after a campaign forced a debate in Parliament

Fergus believes there is 'mystery' surrounding the case and wants information about her son's killers Jon Venables (pictured) and Robert Thompson to be made public

Fergus believes there is ‘mystery’ surrounding the case and wants information about her son’s killers Jon Venables (pictured) and Robert Thompson to be made public

Mrs Fergus said: ‘I am so happy that something positive is happening finally, on the eve of what would have been my James’s 28th birthday tomorrow.

Robert Thompson has not reoffended since and is believed to have settled down with a long-term partner

Robert Thompson has not reoffended since and is believed to have settled down with a long-term partner

‘The Petition Committee have finally listened to the overwhelming support from the public.’

She added: ‘I cannot thank all who have supported me through what has been a very frustrating and emotional fight and hope that now I will finally get justice for James.’

In its initial response to the petition, the Government said: ‘The offender was convicted of further offences as a direct result of robust and effective monitoring.

‘Therefore the Government considers that a public inquiry into this tragic case is not necessary.’

But a statement released by the Petitions Committee on Thursday said there would be a debate on the petition.

It said: ‘We don’t know yet when the debate will happen, because there’s an active legal case that’s relevant to the petition.

‘Parliament avoids talking about cases that are active in the UK courts because that could interfere with the legal process.’

Denise Fergus believes there is ‘mystery’ surrounding the case and wants information about her son’s killers Jon Venables and Robert Thompson to be made public. 

Two-year-old James Bulger is snatched during a shopping trip to the Strand shopping centre, in Bootle, Merseyside in 1993

Two-year-old James Bulger is snatched during a shopping trip to the Strand shopping centre, in Bootle, Merseyside in 1993

After serving eight years in youth prisons, Venables and Robert Thompson were both released and given new identities without ever serving in an adult jail.

Thompson has not reoffended since and is believed to have settled down with a long-term partner. 

But Jon Venables has received almost £260,000 in legal aid to fund a number of court cases after his original conviction and has been repeatedly sent back to prison over child porn.

He was also given £259,585 for judicial reviews, bids for new identities and an appeal against his sentence, a Freedom of Information request revealed.

Even though their son’s killer has received thousands in taxpayer funds, the family of James Bulger have not received any legal aid.

Figures released by the Department of Justice revealed Venables was given almost £180,000 to appeal against his 15-year sentence, according to the Daily Mirror.

His applications for new identities reportedly cost the taxpayer £250,000, while two judicial reviews came to more than £22,000, the Mirror reported.

Venables served eight years for the kidnap, torture and murder, along with Robert Thompson, of two-year-old James in 1993, when they were just ten years old. 

Earlier this year Ralph Bulger, 51, James’ father, launched a legal challenge to Venables’ lifelong anonymity after his son’s killer was jailed after admitting charges of making indecent images of children and having a ‘sickening paedophile’s manual’.

The Old Bailey in London heard that he continues to pose a ‘lifelong risk’ and presents a ‘high risk of serious harm to children’.

Venables was jailed for 40 months in February for hoarding child abuse images.

The 35-year-old could be freed in just 20 months even though the court heard he had downloaded 1,170 images and videos of youngsters being sexually abused while supposedly under the supervision of probation and police.

It was the second time he had been caught downloading child pornography following his release from jail in 2001

In 2010 Venables pleaded guilty to downloading and distributing child pornography and was jailed for two years.

For the past four years Venables has been living anonymously in a flat living a ‘relatively normal life’, with only local police and his probation workers knowing of his whereabouts and new identity.

It later emerged that he breached his licence conditions in 2015 by going online just weeks before a Sexual Harm Prevention Order preventing him from accessing the internet expired.

But secretly he was only handed a police caution rather than being taken to court. Then in July 2017, Venables started trawling the dark web for ‘repulsive’ images and videos depicting babies and young boys being brutally abused.

On a day he was being assessed by probation, he downloaded 1,170 images on a laptop hidden behind the headboard in his bedroom, including a paedophile manual providing ‘graphic details’ of how children can be ‘trained’ to ‘endure increasingly extreme forms of sexual abuse’.

After he was caught last November, Venables said: ‘This is my own fault. I have let people down again. I have had stupid urges.’ 

TIMELINE: JAMES BULGER’S MURDER AND THE CONVICTION OF TWO KILLERS

1993

  • February 12: Two-year-old James Bulger is snatched during a shopping trip to the Strand shopping centre, in Bootle, Merseyside.
  • February 14: The toddler’s battered body is found by children playing on a freight railway line 200 yards from Walton Lane police station, Liverpool, and more than two miles from the Strand shopping centre.
  • February 18: Jon Venables and Robert Thompson, both 10-year-olds, are arrested in connection with the murder of James, and later charged. They are the youngest to be charged with murder in the 20th century.
  • February 22: There are violent scenes outside South Sefton Magistrates’ Court in Bootle, when the two primary school pupils, then known as Child A and Child B, make their first appearance.
  • November 24: Robert Thompson and Jon Venables, now both aged 11, are convicted of James Bulger’s murder following a 17-day trial at Preston Crown Court. They are ordered to be detained at Her Majesty’s pleasure, the normal substitute sentence for life imprisonment when the offender is a juvenile.

1994

  • July: The eight year sentence tariff set by the trial judge, which has already been increased to 10 years by Lord Chief Justice Lord Taylor of Gosforth, is increased again to 15 years by the Home Secretary Michael Howard.

1997

  • June: The Law Lords rule by a majority that Mr Howard has acted illegally in raising the boys’ tariff.

1999

  • March: The European Commission on Human Rights finds that Thompson and Venables were denied a fair trial and fair sentencing by an impartial and independent tribunal.

2000

  • March: Home Secretary Jack Straw says he will not set a date for Thompson and Venables’ release.
  • October: Lord Chief Justice Lord Woolf reinstates the trial judge’s original tariff, paving the way for their release.

2001

  • January: James Bulger’s killers win an unprecedented court order from High Court judge Dame Elizabeth Butler-Sloss which grants them anonymity for the rest of their lives.
  • June: Thompson and Venables are freed under new identities.

2008

  • September: Venables is arrested on suspicion of affray after he and another man become involved in a drunken street fight. He is given a formal warning by the Probation Service about breaching the good behaviour expected of him as a condition of his licence.
  • Later the same year he is cautioned for possession of cocaine after he was found with a small amount of the class A drug, which was said to be for personal use. The public remains unaware of both offences until 2010.

2010

  • March 2: Venables is returned to prison after breaching the terms of his release, the Ministry of Justice says. It kick-starts frenzied media speculation over the nature of the alleged breach.
  • April 16: Prosecutors handed a police file over the latest allegations.
  • June 21: A judge at the Old Bailey lifts media restrictions, allowing it to be reported that Venables has been charged with downloading and distributing child pornography.
  • July 23: Venables pleads guilty to the charges. He is sentenced to two years in prison. James Bulger’s mother Denise Fergus attacks the length of sentence as ‘simply not enough’.
  • July 30: A judge rules Venables’ new identity must be kept secret because of the ‘compelling evidence’ of a threat to his safety, saying ‘unpopular’ defendants had as much right to protection from retribution as anyone else.

2013

  • April 26: Two users of social media who breached the injunction banning the revelation of the new identities of Venables and Thompson receive suspended jail sentences.
  • July 4: Sources reveal Venables has been granted parole. 

2017  

  • Veneables is in prison again after allegedly being caught with indecent images of children.  

2018 

  • January: He is charged and admits possession of child porn



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