Ministers stay tight-lipped over Bulger killer's jail recall
Government ministers in Britain are resisting intense pressure to reveal more about the recall to prison of James Bulger killer Jon Venables.
The 27 year old, who was controversially released on licence after serving eight years for the infamous murder, reportedly faces a looming court appearance over allegations involving child porn offences.
James’ mother Denise Fergus will give her first TV interview about his return to custody later today.
She has led demands to know what prompted his recall, and called for his anonymity to be removed if he appears in court.
Justice Secretary Jack Straw has said only that Venables faces “extremely serious allegations” and that the Government was determined to make sure that justice was done.
Yesterday, amid widespread press speculation about the convicted killer’s behaviour, senior politicians lined up today to support Mr Straw’s stance.
Leader of the Commons Harriet Harman told BBC1’s Andrew Marr Show: “If there is a question of an offence having been committed then it needs to be properly investigated and anybody who has committed an offence needs to be brought to trial.
“We don’t want anything to happen whereby they can’t be brought to a trial because it is said that they can’t get a fair trial because all the media reporting has been prejudiced.”
And David Blunkett, who as Home Secretary informed MPs that Venables was being released nine years ago, wrote: “The separation between judges and politicians is critical. The idea that we should abandon it in this case is understandable coming from James’ immediate family.
“Even with a general election pending, the Government cannot and must not bend on this – not least because if Venables has committed a further crime, then that victim and their family deserve their day in court.”
Venables and his accomplice Robert Thompson were just 10 when they battered two-year-old James to death in Liverpool 17 years ago.
They were both released on lifelong licence in 2001 with new identities, requiring them to obey strict conditions such as not contacting each other or returning to the city where James was killed.
Reports last week said Venables has visited nightclubs and a pop concert in Liverpool and even watched Premier League side Everton at Goodison Park. He is also reported to have worked as a nightclub bouncer and had a history of drug abuse.
Mrs Fergus, 42, will appear on ITV1’s This Morning later today. She is also due to meet Mr Straw this week to discuss Venables’ recall.
Over the weekend she made an impassioned plea for his anonymity to be lifted if he is brought back into court.
Her spokesman, Chris Johnson, said: “If after that, depending on the outcome of the court case, the powers that be decide that he should have some new identity yet again, then we’ll deal with that when we come to it.
“But she can’t understand why he doesn’t appear in a dock under his own name, if that’s going to be where he ends up.”
Mr Johnson added: “She’s appalled. She doesn’t think that he should be at liberty anyway.
“He should really have served a sentence of something in the order of 15 years and should be coming up for parole now.
“In her mind, if there has been an offence committed, it means that that could have been avoided.”
Venables’ solicitor at the time of his trial, Laurence Lee, blamed the Ministry of Justice for creating what he described as the “speculation show”.
“If they’d come clean and give us some information about what he’d done this wouldn’t be happening now,” he told the BBC.
“I think if we’d been at least drip fed some information this wild speculation wouldn’t have gone out of control like it has now.”
Shadow home secretary Chris Grayling said he felt “desperately sorry” for James’ parents, as the news was released in a “drip, drip” fashion.
He told Sky News’ Sunday Live: “I’m certainly absolutely clear that there has to be a pretty good reason for what’s happening at the moment.
“Jack Straw has taken a decision not to give information, there must be compelling legal reasons for that to happen.”
Straw later hinted that he could disclose more information soon.
Pressed over the public interest in having more details released, he told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme: “I understand your point and I will give further consideration to it during the day.
“I think it is pretty well known that my overriding instinct in public life is to give as much information as possible as early as possible, it is not to sit on things.
“So there has to be a good reason for doing what I am doing at the moment.”
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