James Bulger’s heartbroken dad says he is determined to tell the toddler’s killer that he should spend the rest of his life behind bars.
Ralph Bulger is urging Justice Secretary Dominic Raab to rush through laws so he can attend Jon Venables’ parole hearing in the autumn. He wants the killer to hear how the horrifying abduction, torture and murder of James, aged two, in 1993 has shattered him and his family.
He would only be able to speak to Venables on video link as the murderer, with fellow killer Robert Thompson, has life-long legal anonymity, the Mirror reports.
But Ralph said: “He will hear me spell out I want him behind bars for the rest of his life. It will be the first time he will hear the words from my mouth. I believe he will always be a danger to young children and he will kill another baby like James. I want those words to sting him and to hear how his depraved actions still devastate me and my family almost 30 years on.”
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A pilot scheme this summer will enable victims’ families to take part in parole hearings for the first time. Ralph said: “I applaud Mr Raab for saying the rights of victims and their families should be placed above the rights of violent offenders. Show us you mean this by making sure my right to attend his parole is guaranteed. I want to be first in the queue at Venables’ board in autumn.”
Venables and Robert Thompson were just 10 when they led James away to his death from a shopping centre in Bootle. They spent eight years in a secure juvenile detention unit and were released at 18 with secret identities, without spending any time in an adult prison.
But in 2010, Venables was jailed for having child abuse images on his laptop. He was freed after three years and given a second new identity. In 2018 he was sent back to prison for 40 months after more abuse photographs were found on his computer.
Ralph said: “All his life he’s been treated differently because he was 10 when he and his sidekick tortured and murdered my little boy. Well he’s not a kid any more. Venables has always had things his own way ever since he murdered James. It’s about time the tables turned and he faced real justice at last. No more treating him with kid gloves.”
Proposed changes to the parole board come after its 2018 ruling that black cab rapist John Worboys was fit for release. He was less than 10 years into his jail term for plying over 100 women with booze and drugs and committing rape and indecent assault. The High Court blocked the move and he got a further six-year minimum in 2019 following fresh claims.
