Fury of James Bulger’s mum as killer sent back to prison
She says officials tried to cover up Venables’ child porn arrest
THE mother of murdered toddler James Bulger last night accused the authorities of trying to cover up news that one of his killers has been recalled to jail.
Denise Fergus says she 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, 35, had been returned to prison last week after allegedly being caught with child pornography on his computer.
It is the second time he has been recalled to jail since he was released under a new identity after serving eight years of a life sentence. Each time Venables has allegedly been found in possession of vile images.
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.
He and his friend Robert Thompson were ten years old when they abducted James from a shopping centre in Bootle, Merseyside, in February 1993. The pair tortured and murdered the two-year- old before leaving his body on train tracks two and a half miles away in Liverpool. The barbaric murder – by such young children – shocked the nation.
Venables and Thompson were found guilty after a trial at Pres- ton 1993. Crown A judge Court ruled that in November 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 in June 2001, with new identities, under 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.
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 coverup 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.’
‘I pray they will now listen to me’