Watching a killer

Plainly, the probation officers responsible for monitoring Venables after his release from prison paid extremely close attention to his behaviour. Yet lessons must be learned from this depressing and sordid case, not least in the future surveillance of the most serious offenders' use of the internet. Those convicted of offences against children are routinely placed under court restrictions on their use of the internet, and in the case of Venables, such a restriction would have been an entirely reasonable measure to impose.

But Sir David is right to conclude that Venables bears sole responsibility for the child pornography offences he has committed. If there is any crumb of comfort to be gained from this case, it is that when he released once again from prison, he will doubtless face the most stringent restrictions on what he is able to view online.