Bulger killer sent back to jail

One of the killers of toddler James Bulger was back behind bars yesterday.

Jon Venables, 27, was recalled to custody last week after breaching the terms of his release from prison, it is understood.

The convicted murderer, who was controversially freed under a new identity in 2001, was just 10 when he and Robert Thompson abducted and battered the two-year-old to death in a crime which shocked the world.

Precise details of the nature of Mr Venables's breach were not released by the Ministry of Justice, but the detective who led the Bulger investigation said it would have caused "a whole load of anxiety" for James's mother, Denise Fergus.

An MoJ spokesman said: "We can confirm that Jon Venables has been recalled to custody following a breach of licence conditions.

"Offenders on licence are subject to strict conditions; if they breach those conditions they are subject to immediate recall.

"There is a worldwide injunction in place that prohibits any reporting, including reporting on the internet, that could identify him or his location."

Mr Venables and Mr Thompson snatched James from a shopping centre and killed him on a railway line in February 1993.

The toddler's battered body was found by children playing on a freight railway line 200 yards from Walton Lane police station, Liverpool, and more than two miles from the Strand shopping centre.

Both Mr Venables and Mr Thompson were given compulsory life sentences for the murder and remain on licence for the rest of their lives.

Albert Kirby, who headed the Bulger investigation, said he had spoken to James's mother about the revelation.

He told BBC News: "There's always been a lot of anxiety as to where both boys are and to hear something like that this evening it brings back to her a lot of the concerns, quite understandably, that she and any other parents in these sorts of circumstances would have."

At the home of Ms Fergus in Kirkby, outside Liverpool, a family member said she and the family would not be making any comment on the development.

He added: "She will not be saying anything. We only found out from the police about four hours before it came on the news."

He said the family had not been told how Mr Venables had breached the conditions of his release or why he was back in jail.

Harry Fletcher, assistant general secretary of Napo, the probation union, said he suspected details of the recall were made public by the government after officials became aware that they had leaked to a newspaper or other media outlet.

"The fact that the statement has been put out... does not mean he has been recalled within the last 24 hours," he said.

"It's more likely that information about his whereabouts has leaked and the Ministry of Justice has taken a proactive step to limit the damage.

"He will now be in an adult prison somewhere in England and Wales."

Mr Venables will appear before a hearing of the Parole Board within 28 days of being recalled where the details of the breach will be examined, he added.

Barrister and criminal law expert Michael Wolkind QC said he thought there was a "significant chance" the breach had been serious. He said: "Licence is a means of controlling people once they are released.

"Now this has been publicised, I think there must be a possibility of his new identity being exposed in prison and the inference must be it was a serious breach.

"To go to all the trouble of building him a new identity and a new life, there must be a significant chance it was serious."

Infamous CCTV images released at the time of the crime showed James being led away by the hand.

Mr Venables and Mr Thompson, who were truanting from school, walked James around the streets of Liverpool for more than two miles, stopping occasionally to kick and punch him.

They told adults who intervened that he was their brother.

The pair eventually left his body on the tracks in the hope it would be destroyed by a train.

James had been splattered with blue paint and his battered head lay surrounded by a pile of bricks.

Mr Venables and Mr Thompson became the youngest suspects to be charged with murder in the 20th century after the attack.

They were convicted following a 17-day trial at Preston Crown Court and ordered to be detained at Her Majesty's pleasure, the normal substitute sentence for life imprisonment when the offender is a juvenile.

Trial judge Mr Justice Morland told the pair they had committed a crime of "unparalleled evil and barbarity".

But in 2001, the two killers won an unprecedented court order from High Court judge Dame Elizabeth Butler-Sloss to grant them anonymity for the rest of their lives.

Laurence Lee, who was Mr Venables's solicitor at the time of the crime, said he was "shocked" by the news.

He told BBC News: "If I were a betting man and someone said to me, 'One of the two killers of Jamie Bulger had been arrested and returned to prison', I would have put a lot of money on it not being Jon because he was by unanimous agreement the lesser evil of the two."

David Blunkett was Home Secretary when he informed MPs of the Parole Board's decision that Mr Venables should be released in 2001,

He said he had heard of his return to custody "with great regret".

Speaking yesterday morning on GMTV, Home Secretary Alan Johnson declined to reveal the reasons behind Mr Venables's recall to custody.

He said: "You know I can't tell you that, there is a worldwide injunction applying here, but I can confirm that Jon Venables is back in custody.

"The point is, he has broken the terms of his licence which is why he is back in custody."

Key dates in the murder

1993

• February 12: Two-year-old James Bulger is snatched during a shopping trip to the Strand shopping centre in Bootle, Merseyside.

• February 13: Parents Denise and Ralph Bulger make an emotional appeal for the safe return of their son, while detectives release stills from the shopping centre's CCTV cameras. The images become iconic of the dreadful crime and show James being led away by the hand.

• February 14: The toddler's battered body is found by children playing on a freight railway line 200 yards from Walton Lane police station, Liverpool, and more than two miles from the Strand shopping centre.

• February 18: Two 10-year-old boys are arrested in connection with the murder of James, and later charged. They are the youngest to be charged with murder in the 20th century.

• February 22: There are violent scenes outside South Sefton magistrates' court in Bootle, when the two primary school pupils make their first appearance, then known as Child A and Child B.

• March 1: James Bulger is buried.

• November 24: Robert Thompson and Jon Venables, now both aged 11, are convicted of James Bulger's murder following a 17-day trial at Preston Crown Court. They are ordered to be detained at Her Majesty's pleasure, the normal substitute sentence for life imprisonment when the offender is a juvenile.

1994

• June: Home Secretary Michael Howard is handed a petition from James's family, signed by 278,300 people who believe the schoolboy killers should never be released.

• July: The eight-year sentence tariff set by the trial judge, which has already been increased to 10 years by Lord Chief Justice Lord Taylor of Gosforth, is increased again to 15 years by the Home Secretary.

• November: News of the Bulgers' troubled marriage hits the headlines and they finally part some 17 months later. Both later settle with new partners.

1997

• June: The Law Lords rule by a majority that Mr Howard has acted illegally in raising the boys' tariff.

1999

• March: The European Commission on Human Rights finds that Mr Thompson and Mr Venables were denied a fair trial and fair sentencing by an impartial and independent tribunal.

• November: Chief inspector of prisons David Ramsbotham prompts an outcry by saying Mr Thompson and Mr Venables should be released soon after their 18th birthdays. He later apologises to Home Secretary Jack Straw.

• December: The European Court of Human Rights echoes the Commission's conclusion, saying the schoolboys had not received a fair trial.

2000

• March: Mr Straw says he will not set a date for Mr Thompson's and Mr Venables's release.

• October: Lord Chief Justice Lord Woolf reinstates the trial judge's original tariff, paving the way for their release.

2001

• January: James Bulger's killers win an unprecedented court order from High Court judge Dame Elizabeth Butler-Sloss which grants them anonymity for the rest of their lives.

• June: Mr Thompson and Mr Venables are freed under new identities.

2004

• November: It emerges that James's mother, now known as Denise Fergus, tracked down Mr Thompson but was "paralysed with hatred" and could not confront him.

2007

• April: It is revealed that the Government has spent £13,000 preventing overseas magazines revealing the killers' new identities.

• June: A computer game is withdrawn because it appears to contain images based on the CCTV stills of James being led away from the Strand shopping centre.

2008

• March 16: Eighteen red balloons are released during a private ceremony at Kirkdale Cemetery to mark what would have been James Bulger's 18th birthday.

2010

• March 2: Mr Venables is returned to prison after breaching the terms of his release, the Ministry of Justice says.