Bulger killer Venables is to stay in jail

Jon Venables, the killer of Liverpool toddler James Bulger, will stay in prison indefinitely because he cannot be trusted to keep a lid on his dark past, according to reports. Venables and his friend Robert Thompson were just 10 when they were jailed for life after they abducted, tortured and murdered two-year-old James Bulger in 1993.

Both were released in 2001 and given new identities but Venables was jailed again last year on child pornography charges. A court heard he claimed to be a woman online who was willing to let her daughter be abused by paedophiles.

Venables had been on a “downward spiral” of drink and drugs as he struggled to live his life under an assumed identity, the court heard.

According to sources, officials have now ruled out giving him another false identity, because they reportedly believe he is not able to keep his dark past a secret.

It means Venables will remain in jail for the foreseeable future, though he can apply for parole periodically to try and convince the authorities he can be trusted on the outside.

Retired detective superintendent Albert Kirby, who led the Bulger murder inquiry, said: “It is obvious he was not fit to face the outside world and live under a new identity.”