Jail threat over Venables photos

A NUMBER of Twitter users who posted photos claiming to show James Bulger’s killer Jon Venables face a possible jail sentence after Britain’s chief legal adviser launched contempt proceedings against them.

In a first-of-its-kind move, the Attorney General, Dominic Grieve, said court papers will be served against a number of individuals who posted the images on the social network site.

Venables was 10 years old when he and Robert Thompson abducted and murdered twoyear-old James Bulger in Liver- pool in 1993. The pair were jailed for life but released in 2001 under the protection of a court order banning publication of information which could reveal their new identities.

Photographs appeared on Twitter claiming to show an adult Venables, now 30, who had his parole revoked in 2010 after downloading child porn.

Breaches of the order may be a contempt of court punishable by a jail sentence or fine. Astatement from the Attorney General’s Office said: “There are many images online claiming to be of Venables or Thompson – potentially innocent individuals may be wrongly identified and placed in danger.”

It is the first time the Attorney General has brought contempt proceedings involving the use of social media. However, a number cases have seen people fined for breaking the law online.

Nine people must pay compensation to the woman raped by footballer Ched Evans for naming her online, while Lord McAlpine is seeking £50,000 in damages against Sally Bercow over tweets.