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James Bulger killer up for parole next month

James Bulger killer up for parole next month

Jon Venables, one of the killers of two-year-old James Bulger, will have a parole hearing in private next month.

It had been requested to have the hearing in public but those requests were denied.

That's according to an article in the Irish Independent.

The Chair of the Parole Board in England and Wales, Caroline Corby, said the panel had to respect that Venables has a new identity that must remain anonymous.

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"In order to respect the injunction, substantial parts of evidence would need to be held in private including evidence which is likely to be fundamental in the decision of the panel," Ms Corby said.

"If even parts of the heating were held in public, there is a risk that some information could inadvertently be revealed, putting Jon Venables at risk and breaching the injunction," she added.

Four applications were made for the hearing to take place publically, two of which were by journalists.

Venables' prison history

Venables was jailed in 1993 alongside Robert Thompson for torturing and killing two-year-old James Bulger.

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He was released from prison in 2oo1 after serving eight years and being deemed as "no risk for public safety."

Venables apologised to James’ parents Denise Fergus and dad Ralph Bulger who were at his most recent court hearing.

He has since been jailed on more than one occasion, the latest of which being for possessing indecent photographs of children.

In March 2010, he was put in prison for downloading and distributing more than 100 images of child abuse.

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He did two years before being released.

In 2017 he was arrested again for the possession of images of child sex abuse.

In February 2018 he pleaded guilty to the offence and was sentenced to three years and four months, despite it being his second time having images of this kind.

Venables was caught with 1,170 indecent photos of children on his laptop and admitted to having 392 Category A images, 148 Category B, and 630 Category C pictures.

He also pleaded guilty to having a paedophile manual in 2018.

Keep up to date with all the latest news on our website Beat102103.com.

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