One of James Bulger’s killers has been granted a fresh parole hearing.
Jon Venables is set to appeal for his release from prison, where he has been recalled twice since his 2001 release after being found with child abuse images.
Both he and schoolfriend Robert Thompson were jailed for the senseless 1993 murder of the toddler after abducting him from Bootle’s Strand Shopping Centre.
The pair, who walked the two-year-old several miles before killing him on a railway line in Walton were released in 2001 after eight years in a young offenders’ institute
Venables’ previous attempt to argue for his freedom in late 2023 was rejected by the Parole Board, who were ‘not satisfied’ that he had been safely rehabilitated.
But it was confirmed on Tuesday (January 13) that the 43-year-old will be allowed to plead his case again at a hearing which James’s mother Denise Fergus will attend.
Although Venables’ face will not be visible due to his protected identity following release, she will be able to hear his voice for the first time since the murder trial.
“Once again, Denise Fergus has been forced to confront a process that reopens unimaginable trauma,” James Bulger Memorial Trust chair Kym Morris told The Mirror.
“Denise was hoping for a redirection, with no hearing granted by the MAC, allowing her a measure of peace and protection from further distress. That hope has now been taken away.
“Denise has been informed that her application to observe the hearing has been granted.
“While this provides her with access to the process, it does not lessen the emotional burden she is being asked to carry, nor does it offer the reassurance or closure she so desperately deserves.
“Instead, Denise now faces yet another prolonged period of uncertainty and distress, with limited clarity around how decisions are being reached or how ongoing risks are being assessed.”