Identity of Bulger killer will stay secret, court rules

THE PAST identities of James Bulger killer Jon Venables will remain secret after a High Court judge rejected a bid by the murdered toddler’s father and uncle to have them revealed.

A lifelong injunction made in 2001 has allowed Venables to live under anonymity since his release from a life sentence for the kidnap, torture and murder of the two-year-old in February 1993.

Lawyers for Ralph and Jimmy Bulger said certain details about the killer, including identities given to him up to 2017, were “common knowledge” and easily accessible online.

They asked the President of the Family Division, Sir Andrew McFarlane, to vary the order so it would no longer protect this information. In a ruling yesterday, the judge refused to alter the order, which he said was to protect the “uniquely notorious” Venables from “being put to death”.

He said: “There is a strong possibility, if not a probability, that if his identity were known he would be pursued, resulting in grave and possibly fatal consequences.”

The judge added: “My decision is in no way a reflection on the applicants themselves, for whom there is a profoundest sympathy.

Anyone who breaches the injunction faces prosecution for contempt of court. Speaking outside court after the ruling, solicitor advocate Robin Makin, for the Bulgers, said: “The authorities seem to be hell-bent on protecting JV regardless of the risk to others and this has been a primary driving force behind Ralph and Jimmy’s application.”

Sir Andrew refused permission to appeal against the ruling but Mr Makin said the Bulgers may consider a challenge at the Court of Appeal.

James Bulger was killed by Venables and Robert Thompson, who were 10, after they snatched him from a shopping centre in Bootle, Merseyside. Only a handful of lifelong orders have been made to date, including those granted to Venables and Thompson, and child killer Mary Bell.