Actress Tina Malone, pictured in Manchester on January 17, faces High Court proceedings
Actress Tina Malone faces contempt of court proceedings after re-tweeting a photograph allegedly showing James Bulger’s killer Jon Venables.
The 55-year actress from Liverpool, who has appeared in Shameless and Brookside, posted a series of messages on Facebook saying she had been served papers by the High Court.
One read: ‘I need a lawyer ASAP! I’ve been committed to the High Court!’
Another said: ‘I’ve had a wonderful day until I opened my front door five minutes ago! The High Court have served me!’
The Attorney General’s Office confirmed it had sent a summons to Malone.
Venables and fellow killer Robert Thompson were given new identities following the murder in February 1993, which are strictly protected under the terms of a lifelong injunction.
The worldwide injunction bans any images or information relating to their identities being published or shared online.
Although the offence has a maximum punishment of two years in jail, earlier cases would suggest she would likely only receive a suspended sentence if found guilty.
Jon Venables (left) and fellow killer Robert Thompson (right) were given new identities following the murder, which are strictly protected under the terms of a lifelong injunction
Malone posted messages on Facebook saying she had been served papers by the High Court
In April 2013, two men who published photos said to show James’s killers received nine-month sentences, suspended for 15 months, for being in contempt of court.
Neil Harkins, 35, and Dean Liddle, 28, admitted to posting pictures on Facebook and Twitter respectively in February 2013 – two days after the killing’s 20th anniversary.
James Bulger was murdered in 1993 aged two
Today, Malone has been accused of retweeting an image of Venables last year, prompting the police to launch an investigation.
Speaking in March 2018, she defended her actions – saying he should be ‘wiped from this earth’.
She told the Daily Star Sunday: ‘The police are only doing their job and if they’re going to caution me, arrest me, pull me in, or give me a slap on the wrist, I get that.
‘They’d better be going for the two million other people who have shared Venables’ picture.’
‘Here I am posting a picture of a self-confessed paedo child-killer who has built a manual on how to rape a baby, yet I’m the one being threatened and vilified and possibly going to prison. You know what, do the crime, do the time.’
Malone, who is an ambassador of The James Bulger Memorial Trust and is friends with James’s mother Denise Fergus and her husband Stuart, also claimed she ‘didn’t have a clue’ that sharing the image was illegal, adding: ‘I’m not au fait with the law.’
Liverpool-born actress Malone played Mimi Maguire in Channel 4 TV series Shameless (above)
Venables and Thompson, then aged just ten, abducted, tortured and murdered two-year-old James in 1993.
Venables was released on licence from prison in 2001 but has been sent back to jail twice, in 2010 and 2018, for possessing indecent images of children.
An Attorney General’s Office spokesman confirmed it had summoned the actress to appear at the High Court and the summons related to a social media post last year.
He added: ‘The law officers will review contempt of court allegations made to them, but they cannot comment on the nature of any investigations.
‘The law officers remind everyone that an injunction is in place which prevents publication of any images or information claiming to identify anyone as Jon Venables or Robert Thompson.’
A date for Malone’s hearing has yet to be fixed.
Her summons comes just days after Ms Fergus was left furious by a film about her son’s murder being nominated for an Oscar.
The father of the murdered toddler, Ralph Bulger, has spoken of his devastation that producers have released a film about his son’s killing without the family’s consent
‘Detainment’ is made up of almost entirely of verbatim quotes from interview transcripts and shows Venables and Thompson crying and asking for their parents as detectives quiz them
‘Detainment’, written and directed by Irish filmmaker Vincent Lambe, has been nominated for the 91st Academy Awards in the ‘best live action short’ category.
Malone, at ITV’s London studios, March 2017
The film is based on transcripts of police interviews with Venables and Thompson.
Ms Fergus said: ‘It’s one thing making a film like this without contacting or getting permission from James family but another to have a child re-enact the final hours of James’s life before he was brutally murdered and making myself and my family have to relive this all over again.’
The 30-minute film is made up of almost entirely of verbatim quotes from interview transcripts and shows Venables and Thompson crying and asking for their parents as detectives quiz them over James’s death.
James’s father, Ralph Bulger, claimed he found the film ‘offensive’, and said nobody behind the making of the drama contacted him or anyone else in James’s family prior to its release.
Sorry we are not currently accepting comments on this article.