Bulger killer Jon Venables jailed for child porn

Venables - who along with Robert Thompson battered and murdered two-year-old James Bulger - told officers he had enjoyed the images of abuse and said he was "breaking the last taboo".

He even adopted an online alter ego as a married mother offering to sell her eight-year-old daughter to a paedophile.

Venables and his friend Thompson were just 10 when they killed James in Bootle, Merseyside, and became national figures of hate.

They were jailed for life in 1993 and given new identities when they were released on licence in 2001.

Extensive measures were taken to protect the pair from vigilantes and help them lead a normal life but after several years Venables descended into a spiral of cocaine and mephedrone addiction and drunken violence.

The 27-year-old - who still faces death threats - appeared via videolink at the Old Bailey today under unprecedented secrecy, with only the judge able to see him.

After 16 years living in the shadows, just four disembodied words were heard from the killer - answering "yes" to his name and pleading "guilty" to three charges concerning child pornography.

One charge related to downloading 57 images - some of children as young as two - between February last year and February this year.

A second count related to a technical offence that three images were made available while they were being downloaded in February this year.

The third charge related to distributing images in February 2008 to convicted paedophile Leslie Blanchard, of Chelmsford, Essex.

James's mother, Denise Fergus, sat impassively in court wearing a "Justice for James" badge as details of the crimes, and Venables' life since release from jail, were read out. She later condemned his sentence as "simply not enough".

Speaking after the hearing, Venables' solicitor, John Gibson, said his client was "extremely remorseful" and knows he has "badly let down" everyone who has tried to help him.

The solicitor added: "He has said that every day since what took place in 1993 he has thought about how different life might have been for all those affected, who he appreciates have also had their own reasons for reflection."

The court heard that, in September 2008, Venables was arrested on suspicion of affray after a drunken brawl and was given a formal warning by the probation service for breaching the good behaviour terms of his licence.

Later the same year he was cautioned for possession of cocaine after he was found with a small amount of the class A drug, said to be for personal use.

Mrs Fergus and her spokesman said today that they were "surprised and concerned" that Venables had not been recalled for breaching his licence. A Ministry of Justice spokesman said there would be a review of his supervision.

It was in February this year that Venables was arrested and recalled over child pornography allegations.

Evidence later emerged that he had an "extensive history of searching for and downloading indecent images of children using the internet".

In February 2008 he was posing as a 35-year-old married woman called Dawn when he was in contact online with paedophile Blanchard.

Evidence from a laptop seized from Blanchard showed the two men had used Google Hello to send and receive messages - with Venables using his alter ego.

Louis Mably, prosecuting, said: "Dawn said she was interested in pictures of parents abusing their children.

"Dawn said she and her husband abused their daughter. Blanchard said he would like to meet their daughter and abuse her himself. It appeared that Dawn agreed a price for selling her daughter for a few hours."

Mr Mably said Blanchard gave a telephone number but Dawn broke off contact abruptly, telling him he would never meet or touch her daughter.

In February this year, Venables contacted his probation officer, fearing that his true identity had been discovered.

The officer arrived at his address and told him to collect his belongings, and he was found trying to delete files from his computer and to remove his hard drive with a tin opener.

Venables was taken to a police station with the machine and it was later examined by officers, said Mr Mably.

He said: "A total of 57 indecent images of children were found."

Eight of the images were at level four, the second most serious level - featuring sexual activity involving children, the court heard.

Two were at level three, three were at level two, and 44 at level one, the Old Bailey was told.

Sentencing Venables today, Mr Justice Bean said: "Accessing child pornography on a computer is not a victimless crime, since people who do it encourage the exploitation of the children who are filmed or photographed.

"Even downloading such images, let alone distributing them, is itself a form of child abuse."

The judge said that, as Venables was still on licence for the "horrific" murder of James, he would not be automatically released on serving half his two-year term, and when he was let out would be up to the parole board to decide.

He was also put on the sex offenders register for 10 years and banned from working with children for life.

In a statement released after he was sentenced, the killer said he thought of the murder he carried out every day and was "genuinely ashamed" for his latest crimes.

Anthony Hudson QC, representing the national media, said in court earlier that the decision to allow only the judge to see Venables via videolink was a "very serious departure" from the principal of open justice.

He said: "This is the first time ever that such a course has been adopted in relation to an adult criminal defendant."

But the judge said: "I do not see that it is an essential part of criminal proceedings that the public should be able to look at the defendant, either at the time of sentencing or before.

"There is evidence to the effect that there is very considerable risk to Mr Venables' life if his identity becomes public."

Cheshire Constabulary and Cheshire Probation issued a statement about the case later, after the judge agreed that it could be reported that Venables was in Cheshire at the time.

The statement said: "Since 2007, Cheshire Probation and Cheshire Constabulary, as partners in the local MAPPA (Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangements) played a part in the arrangements set up to manage Jon Venables in the community.

"On February 22 2010, we were notified by Jon Venables that he believed his new identity was compromised, with a number of people in the community having identified him.

"A trigger plan was put into place to move Jon Venables from his home immediately. When a police officer arrived to escort Venables to a new location he found him tampering with the hard drive of his computer.

"This behaviour aroused suspicions and Venables was removed to a police station. The computer was seized.

"The computer was forensically examined and a number of offences detected involving images of abuse.

"A decision was taken by Cheshire Probation to recall Jon Venables to prison because of concerns about his behaviour."

The statement added that "the national MAPPA board was kept fully informed and updated" about the management of Venables.