Child killer Jon Venables (pictured) has a ‘price on his head’ in prison after furious inmates discovered his identity
James Bulger murderer Jon Venables has a ‘price on his head’ in prison after furious inmates discovered his identity.
Venables, 35, was sent back to jail last month after allegedly being caught with child pornography on his computer.
A court order bans the media from revealing the prison where he is incarcerated, but fellows cons have found out and want to attack him for his sick past.
In order to be protected, Venables is escorted to the visiting room by three officers.
A prison source told the Sun that other inmates knew who the killer was as soon as he arrived.
They said: ‘The screws were talking about it because they don’t care who knows.
‘There’s a price on his head and most of the jail would like to have a pop at him but no one will be able to get to him.’
Venables and Robert Thompson were both 10 when they abducted, tortured and killed two-year old James Bulger in 1993.
They had snatched him from a shopping centre in Bootle, Merseyside, and then left his body on train tracks two and a half miles away.
The pair were released in 2001 and given new identities.
However, Venables has been sent back inside twice since his original release.
He was jailed in 2010 and again last month, both cases involved accusations of possessing indecent images of children.
Venables and Thompson (left, in CCTV) were both 10-years-old when they shocked Britain by abducting toddler James (pictured), then just two-years-old in 1993
The Attorney General is currently investigating a social media post that may have revealed Venables’ new identity.
Identifying the killers anywhere in the world breaches an anonymity order and anyone prosecuted could be jailed.
A spokesman for the Attorney General’s office said: ‘We have received a complaint that the anonymity order has been breached and we are investigating.’
In 2013 two men who posted images they claimed to be of Venables and Thompson were given nine-month sentences, suspended for 15 months. Breaking the injunction carries a punishment of up to two years in prison.
James’ mother Denise Fergus was told Jon Venables was back behind bars only because a newspaper had found out and was about to break the story.
She angrily denounced the Ministry of Justice and the Probation Service for ‘trying to keep quiet’ that Venables had been returned to prison.
Mrs Fergus said she was ‘absolutely fuming that once again I’m last to know’.
In a statement, she said: ‘Venables has now proved beyond any doubt what a vile, perverted psychopath he has always been. But what hurts me most is the way the Probation Service has tried to cover this up.
‘Venables was taken back into custody a week ago, yet I was only informed hours before it hit the press. But it’s clear that they were trying to keep this quiet, until they got a call from the media.
‘That left me extremely upset, angry, feeling insulted. I predicted Venables would reoffend unless they kept a very tight rein on him and I pray that now please someone from the UK Government will finally listen to me.’
The news triggered renewed calls for Venables to be locked up for the rest of his life.
Venables and Thompson were found guilty after a trial at Preston Crown Court in November 1993. A judge ruled that reporting restrictions should be lifted and the pair, then 11, could be named.
The court heard that Venables and Thompson snatched James after his mother let go of his hand to pay for some sausages.
They led James along a canal towpath before battering him with an iron bar, pouring paint in his eyes, clubbing him with bricks and leaving him on a railway line to be hit by a train.
The youngest to be convicted of murder in Britain for 250 years, they were ordered to be detained indefinitely in youth custody.
They were released after eight years, in prison with new identities.
They were handed a lifelong licence after it was ruled they were no longer a danger to the public.
Venables was returned to custody last week after probation officials allegedly discovered child porn images at his home in the North of England during a routine check and alerted police.
The material is said to be similar to that discovered on his computer in 2010, leading to his first recall to jail.
But the Probation Service did not tell Mrs Fergus until 8.40pm on Wednesday, hours before the news was set to be revealed by The Sun.
The crime made Thompson and Venables the youngest killers in modern English history
Ralph and Denise Bulger, parents of James, during an emotional police press conference in the aftermath of his death
Her lawyer Sean Saxton said: ‘She is kept in the dark and only given information about her son’s killers when it is about to be revealed publicly in any event.
‘She has worried for many years that there may have been a cover-up as to the risk truly posed by Venables and Thompson.
‘She believes that there was a rush to release them before they entered youth custody and the authorities turned a blind eye to any evidence that either of them posed a risk to children.’
Venables is being held at a maximum security prison, which cannot be identified, while the new allegations are investigated.
If he is charged, he will appear via videolink at any trial, to protect his identity. The Ministry of Justice said: ‘We do not comment on individual cases.’