Calls mount for details ofBulger killer jail recall

The Government faced growing calls last night to reveal more details about the return to prison of one of James Bulger’s killers.

Jon Venables, who is now 27, was taken back into custody last week for breaching the conditions of his release, but little is known about the reasons why and Ministers have refused to provide further details.

Justice Secretary Jack Straw defended the decision, saying the secrecy was in the public interest.

He said: “For very good reason we have had to keep restricted details as to why Mr Venables has been recalled.

“There is always a careful balance that has to be maintained. I have no interest at all in withholding information gratuitously or unnecessarily.

“But there are good reasons to withhold this information and that is genuinely in the public interest.”

Detective Albert Kirby, who led the investigation into the killing, said the public should be told: “It would help to clarify and put this to rest once and for all if the public did have some indication of what it is he has done.

“Not where he is or details like that, but the reason why his probation has been revoked and he is back inside.”

Mr Kirby was backed by Mark Thomas, editor of the Liverpool Daily Post, who wrote a book about the Bulger case.

Mr Thomas said: “The law fell short of public expectations in allowing them to be released without spending any time in an adult prison. The public are now going to be worried and they have a right to know what he has done.”

Venables and Robert Thompson were 10 when they abused and battered two-year-old James Bulger to death 17 years ago after snatching him from a shopping centre in Bootle, Merseyside.

On their release from custody in 2001 they were given strict rules about how they could behave on the outside.

It is unclear which of the terms of his life licence Venables breached. Among the conditions are that he should not return to Merseyside or contact Thompson.

Committing a further serious offence would also have prompted the action.

James Bulger’s mother Denise Fergus welcomed the news when it broke late on Tuesday night, saying that Venables was “where he belongs tonight – behind bars”.

A question of release and redemption: Page 15.