Jon Venables’s next parole hearing to be held in private

The Parole Board has decided that Jon Venables’s forthcoming oral parole hearing will be held in private. James Bulger’s mother, Denise Fergus, had asked for a public hearing, and media organisations also applied for public access. [1]

Fergus said a public hearing would help counter misinformation about her son’s murder, which she said had a retraumatising effect on her. The board said public access could make it very difficult for Venables to give evidence because people seeking information to kill him might be listening. Parole hearings are normally private but can be opened in the interests of justice. [1]

Venables and Robert Thompson were both 10 when they abducted James from a shopping centre in Bootle, Merseyside, in February 1993 and killed him. Venables was released on licence in 2001, then recalled to prison in 2010 after indecent images of children were found on his computer. He was released again in 2013 and recalled in 2017 for the same offence. The board refused him parole in 2023, finding that he still posed a danger to children and could offend again. [1]