Parents of murdered toddler James Bulger hit out after killer is released

Jon Venables, 31 was freed from prison after being locked up in 2010 for downloading images of child abuse.

Legal sources yesterday confirmed Venables had been released.

Venables had previously served eight years for murdering two-year-old James in Livepool in 1993.

The killer has reportedly been given his fourth new identity at a reported cost of £250,000.

James’s father, Ralph, believes Venables will commit more crime, a friend said.

“He hasn’t put a time on it but he is convinced he will reoffend,” she said.

She added that James’s family were given scant information about Venables’ release and Mr Bulger was told via his lawyer. “As ever they are kept in the dark.”

The toddler’s mother, Denise Fergus, told The Sun Venables is “a danger to the public”.

“He lies for his own sick ends,” she said. “I have been told that the terms of his parole mean that he must not enter the county of Merseyside. But the Probation Service didn’t monitor him properly last time so I have no faith in their ability to do that now.”

Venables was just 10 years old when he and his friend, Robert Thompson, tortured and murdered James after abducting him from a shopping centre in Bootle.