Mother of James Bulger meets Justice Secretary

Mr Straw, who has repeatedly refused to confirm the details of why John Venables was returned to custody, met Denise Fergus in his Blackburn constituency, a spokesman from the Ministry of Justice confirmed.

Mrs Fergus had asked for a meeting last week after it was revealed Venables, 27, had been returned to prison, with reports alleging he is being investigated over allegations of child pornography.

The meeting with Mr Straw, at Blackburn Town Hall, lasted about an hour.

A spokesman for the Justice Secretary said he had tried to answer Mrs Fergus's questions "as fully as he could".

Mr Straw has already said he cannot reveal the exact reasons for the decision to return Venables to prison, saying only he faced "very serious allegations".

In a statement to MPs on Monday, he said he fully understood the concerns about the information being made public but insisted it would not be "in the interests of justice" to make more information public.

Mr Straw has also defended the anonymity given to Venables and Robert Thompson, saying they faced the threat of the "lynch mob" and needed protection.

Judges have granted four such orders, covering Venables and Thompson as well as child killer Mary Bell and Maxine Carr, the former girlfriend of Soham murderer Ian Huntley.

Both Venables and Thompson were released from custody in 2001 with new identities, having served eight years for the murder. They are on life licence, meaning they can be brought back to prison at any time if they reoffend or if they are thought to pose a threat to the public.

They were both aged 10 when they abducted the two-year-old from a shopping centre and killed him, leaving his body on a railway line in Bootle, Merseyside.

Chris Johnson, Mrs Fergus's spokesman, said the meeting was "cordial" but the parties had agreed not to divulge details of the discussion.