James Bulger killer set for latest parole bid for freedom

Child killer Jon Venables is set to have his latest bid for freedom heard by the Parole Board.

The 43-year-old, who tortured and murdered two-year-old James Bulger in 1993, will have his case heard by parole chiefs at an oral hearing more than two years after his last appeal.

In 2023, the Parole Board rejected the bid and found he still posed a danger to children and could go on to offend again.

Venables was jailed alongside Robert Thompson after the pair of 10-year-olds snatched James from a shopping centre in Bootle, Merseyside, in February 1993.

Venables was released on licence in July 2001 and recalled to prison in February 2010 after indecent images of children were found on his computer.

He was once again freed in August 2013 and then called back in November 2017 for the same offence, with parole judges considering his case again in September 2020.

The Daily Mirror reported that James’s family was informed on Tuesday of the upcoming parole hearing, which it said is expected next month.

No date has yet been confirmed by the Parole Board.

Spokeswoman Kym Morris, on behalf of James’s mum Denise Fergus, told the paper:

“Once again, Denise Fergus has been forced to confront a process that reopens unimaginable trauma.

“Denise was hoping for a redirection … allowing her a measure of peace and protection from further distress. That hope has now been taken away.”

Ms Morris added that Ms Fergus’s application to observe the hearing has been granted.

Victims have been able to attend parole hearings held in private under reforms rolled out nationally in April as part of efforts to boost confidence in the justice system.

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