Paper awaits decision on Bulger ‘injunction breach’

Meanwhile, Home Secretary David Blunkett said the killers could face real dangers after their release and the toddler’s father called for public ‘‘restraint’’.

Strict guidelines restricting media coverage of the pair, now aged 18, were imposed by the High Court to protect them from revenge attacks.

The teenagers, who abducted two-year-old James from the Strand shopping precinct in Bootle, Merseyside, in February 1993 before torturing him and battering him to death on a railway line, have been granted an open-ended injunction protecting their anonymity.

A spokesman for the Attorney General said he would announce a decision on the Manchester Evening News today or tomorrow.

International newspapers and magazines are not covered by the ruling, legal experts have warned, and some have already expressed interest in publishing new photographs of the pair.

The prospect has raised fears of vigilante attacks against them, despite official efforts to protect them.

Speaking about the issue for the first time since he confirmed on Friday that Venables and Thompson would be released after eight years in custody, Mr Blunkett yesterday voiced fears at the tense atmosphere which has developed.

Mr Blunkett said: ‘‘It is the most horrendous case and I understand very well the very strong feelings, but there is nothing can bring Jamie back and we have now to address ourselves to the future.

‘‘The greatest safeguard we can offer to people in the community is to rehabilitate Thompson and Venables effectively, to have automatic recall if they break the licence or in any way show that they are a danger to themselves or others,’’

Asked whether he feared that Thompson and Venables might come to harm, Mr Blunkett replied: ‘‘I think if people continue to provide the emotional adrenaline for others who are sick of mind to actually go and do that, then there will be a danger.

‘‘I think we all need to take a deep breath and to view what is said and done as we would view it if it were taking place in any other country.

‘‘We are not in the Mid West in the mid 19th century, we are in Britain in the 21st century and we will deal with things effectively and we will deal with them in a civilised manner.’’

Speaking through his lawyer, James Bulger’s father Ralph called for ‘‘restraint’’ to be shown.

Mr Bulger’s solicitor Robin Makin said: ‘‘I think the time has really come for there to be restraint and for matters to fade away to allow everybody some time to reflect and allow what has been set up to take effect.’’

He called for the power and role of the media to be reviewed in the light of newspaper coverage.

James’ mother Denise Fergus has already warned that the killers would not be able to hide under their new names forever.

Police officer Norman Brennan, founder of the Victims of Crime Trust and a friend of Mrs Fergus, said he believed that the strength of the public reaction was a reflection of a feeling that the boys had not spent long enough in custody.

‘‘My opinion, and certainly that of Denise ... is that if Venables and Thompson had gone on to a young offenders institute for three or four years, the Bulger family, and I’m sure people in this country, would have felt that there would have been rehabilitation and also a punishment element,’’ he said.

Simon Hughes, the Liberal Democrats’ home affairs spokesman, echoed the Home Secretary’s calls for there to be no vigilante action.

‘‘People may think that these young men ought to have stayed longer inside and that is a reasonable point of view,’’ he said.

‘‘They are, however, about to come out and in effect they will have a continuing life sentence. Life will be difficult enough for them under their new identities, without any additional threats.

‘‘I hope that everybody with any influence on the family and friends of James Bulger will make clear that from now on they, along with the rest of us, must accept the decision.’’