The father of murdered toddler James Bulger is bringing a High Court case in a bid to remove Jon Venables’ right to anonymity. Pictured: Venables after the murder
A legal action brought by the father and uncle of James Bulger against an order granting his killer lifelong anonymity will go ahead in December.
Ralph and Jimmy Bulger are challenging a High Court order which meant that Jon Venables would be allowed to live the rest of his life under a cloak of anonymity.
Venables has been living anonymously since his release from a life sentence for the kidnap, torture and murder of two-year-old James in February 1993.
The toddler was killed by Venables and Robert Thompson, both aged 10, after they snatched him from a shopping centre in Bootle, Merseyside.
They were both later granted lifelong anonymity and, following release, have lived under new identities.
Solicitor Robin Makin, for the Bulgers, said that the injunction was granted in 2002 on the basis that Venables was rehabilitated and would not re-offend.
But he had since been convicted twice and sent back to jail over indecent images of children, most recently in February.
He was jailed for three years and four months after admitting surfing the dark web for extreme child abuse images and possessing a ‘sickening’ paedophile manual.
He was charged after police found more than 1,000 indecent images on his computer.


Two-year-old James Bulger (right) was murdered in 1993. His father (left, pictured in February) has previously said ‘secret justice is no justice’ in relation to his killer

Venables and Thompson snatched Bulger from outside a butcher’s shop in Bootle, Merseyside, in 1993, while his mother popped into a store for just a few seconds
It was the second time he had been caught with such images and when he was arrested he told police he was plagued by ‘stupid urges’.
James’s mother, Denise Fergus, and father, Ralph Bulger, attended the Old Bailey when Venables was sentenced in February.
On Wednesday, in the latest of a series of rulings dealing with preliminary issues, judge Sir James Munby said the case would be heard by the new President of the Family Division, Sir Andrew McFarlane.
The hearing, which is due to take place at London’s High Court on or after December 3, is estimated to last two days and will be held in public.
Venables, who has not yet been charged with any offence, and Thompson were both 10-years-old when they shocked Britain by abducting James, then just two-years-old.

Robert Thompson was also locked up over James’ killing
The crime made the boys the youngest killers in modern English history and public enemy number one with millions of Brits.
The duo snatched Bulger from outside a butcher’s shop in Bootle, Merseyside, in 1993, while his mother popped into a store for just a few seconds.
The toddler’s mutilated body was found on a railway line in Walton, Liverpool, two days later.
Venables and Thompson were found guilty of killing Bulger in November 1993 and were sentenced to custody until they reached 18.
They were freed in 2001 after serving eight years behind bars, but by 2010 Venables was back in prison for violating the terms of his release by possessing child porn.
It was revealed that he had downloaded and distributed more than 100 images of child abuse, some involving victims as young as two being raped.
In one instance he messaged another paedophile claiming to be a married mother who abused her eight-year-old daughter, and offered to sell access to the child.
He was freed from prison for the second time in 2013 after a recommendation from the Parole Board.
At the time, Denise and Ralph Bulger said they were ‘filled with terror’ by the decision to grant parole to Venables.