Jon Venables former lawyer speculates about his return to prison

Laurence Lee

The former solicitor for Jon Venables does not believe the James Bulger killer will be back behind bars for very long.

Laurence Lee, who represented Venables at his 1993 trial, was surprised to hear of his ex-client's detention and predicted that the authorities will want him released "as soon as possible".

Mr Lee said: "I was amazed. If someone said to me one of the two boys has breached his licence, I would have put my house on it being Thompson."

According to Lee, Thompson was always considered the more evil of the two, a "Pied Piper" who enticed Venables into joining him in the torture and murder of two-year-old James.

The Ministry of Justice confirmed on Tuesday that Venables, 27, had been recalled to custody for breaching his parole although it is not yet known what that breach was.

Lee, who has not had contact with Venables since the trial ended in 1993, said he felt the breach of parole must be serious to warrant a recall.

Mr Lee said: "It is impossible to know what he has done because we're getting no messages from the Ministry of Justice because of all the injunctions.

"For example, to say that the condition he had breached was not to enter Merseyside, that is almost breaching the injunction regarding whereabouts.

"The conditions of his release were not to enter Merseyside, not to approach Thompson and not to approach the Bulger family, which he would never have done anyway.

"He would never have approached Thompson because his hatred for Thompson couldn't be put into words after the mess he got him into, although a lot of the mess was his own doing."

Mr Lee, 56, suggested that Venables' may have been involved in the commission of a crime.

He said: "I don't think they would put him into the prison system for a small breach.

"It would have to have been an imprisonable offence in my opinion. I don't even think it could be a drunk and disorderly or something that might constitute a breach.

"We've got a very unusual situation here with Venables and Thompson. The last thing the authorities want is for them to be in prison because of the security 'tinder box', as I call it.

"What do you do with him now? It's a hot potato if ever there was one."

The veteran lawyer, who has practiced in Liverpool for 27 years, said his "instinct" was that Venables would not be in prison for very long.

He continued: "I would say that they will be desperate to get him back into society as quickly as possible unless something heinous has happened."

"Every prison in the country will be looking round to see whether or not there's a 27-year-old who looks a little bit like THAT boy.

"From ten to 27, even though there will be a great change, there will be people in the prison system who will be looking at this 27-year-old who is nervous and obviously alien to adult prisons and wondering 'Is that him?'.

"If that happens there is a great security risk and I would imagine that, unless it's a very serious breach, they'll want him out the way."

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