Fury at ‘soft sentence’ for James Bulger killer found with child porn
TODDLER James Bulger’s mother hit out at a judge yesterday as he jailed one of her son’s killers for possessing vile child sex images.
Mr Justice Edis condemned Jon Venables for indulging in a “barbarous evil” and sentenced him to three years and four months in prison.
Chillingly, the pervert’s hoard of 1,170 films and photos showed the vile sexual abuse of babies and two-year-old boys – the same age as tragic James.
It is the second time Venables has been convicted of downloading child sex images.
Speaking through a James’s mother Denise dismissed the sentence Old Bailey as a “farce.”
Chris Johnson, chairman of the James Bulger Memorial Trust, said: “On behalf of Denise, I would like to say that sitting through the hearing this morning was a horrendous ordeal for Denise having to listen to the vile and disgusting behaviour that Venables has engaged in yet again.
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friend, Fergus at the
“The length of the sentence is too short – this is a farce. This is re-offending. There is a pattern to this behaviour.”
Venables and Robert Thompson were 10 when they tortured and murdered the toddler after snatching him from a shopping centre in Bootle, Merseyside, in February 1993.
They were both jailed for life but were controversially freed when they were 18.
To the disgust of James’s family, they were given new identities and granted life-long anonymity.
Venables, now 35, was arrested last November after a probation officer found a laptop computer hidden in his bedroom during a routine check. He was immediately returned to jail.
Venables had also downloaded a manual on how to have sex with young children “safely”. The killer told police: “I have had stupid urges, inquisitive.”
Yesterday, Mr Justice Edis said the paedophile manual suggested Venables was “at least contemplating” luring children into his clutches and abusing them.
The two killers were released “on licence” in 2001.
Any crime or breach of licence conditions should mean an immediate return to custody.
The Parole Board will decide how long Venables will stay behind bars after he has completed half his current sentence.
Ms Fergus and James’s father Ralph Bulger were in court as Venables appeared via prison videolink.
He had downloaded 392 category A images – the most repulsive class.
The judge said: “As a consumer of the products of this barbarous evil, you along with many others indirectly cause it to happen. The commission of these offences and the possession of the manual suggest that you have a compulsive interest in serious sexual crime against small children.”
In 2010, Venables was jailed for two years for downloading child sex images.
It was revealed for the first time yesterday that he breached the terms of his licence by accessing the internet.
Outside court, Mr Johnson claimed a police caution was a “cover-up” and called for a public inquiry into the handling of the case.
In an interview with Sir Trevor McDonald to be shown on ITV tonight, Ms Fergus said she “never had justice for James”.
She said of the killers: “I thought doing a proper sentence in a proper prison would be justice for James. But that never happened.
“They never got punished for what they did. In fact, if anything, they were rewarded.”