James Bulger’s mother, Denise Fergus
(Picture: PA Archive/PA Images)The mother of James Bulger has urged the Prime Minister to take action to ensure her son’s murderer Jon Venables remains in prison, ahead of his parole hearing.
Denise Fergus’ son James was abducted and killed in February 1993 at the age of just two, by Venables and Robert Thompson, who were then 10.
Ms Fergus, 53, has now written to Liz Truss urging for her son’s killer - who has been jailed on two further occasions afer reoffending following James’ murder - not to be freed, warning he “still poses a serious danger to other families”.
She called on the Prime Minister to strengthen legislation to help keep dangerous offenders in prison and off the streets, as had been outlined in the Tories’ recently shelved Bill of Rights.
Venables and Thompson were jailed for life following James’ murder, but released on licence with new identities in 2001, after serving eight years.
Venables, 40, was sent back to prison in 2010 for possessing child abuse images that he downloaded on to his computer.
He was released in 2013, but was again returned to prison in 2017 after he was found in possession of more than 1,000 indecent images of children and a child abuse manual. In 2018, he was sentenced to 40 months in prison after pleading guilty to the crimes.
In 2020, when he was around halfway through his sentence, Venables was refused parole and was told he must remain in prison.
Speaking to the Mirror at the time, James’ father Ralph Bulger branded it the “right decision”.
“I am so relieved because I was convinced he was getting out – just as he has done before,” he said.
“He may not stay in jail for ever, but just knowing he is behind bars means children are safe from him for at least another two years.”
“I have always said that Venables is a dangerous predatory paedophile and should never be freed from prison.”
Having served his minimum sentence, Venables is now due for another parole hearing.
Speaking to the Mirror, Ms Fergus said: “We need the Prime Minister or her new Justice Secretary to step in immediately to make sure my son’s killer stays firmly behind bars where he belongs.
“We are calling on them to, please, intervene now.”
In June, Ms Fergus met with then-justice secretary Dominic Raab, who reportedly assured her that stricter legislation would be introduced regarding paroling dangerous criminals.
Mr Raab set out plans to give ministers additional powers to override the Parole Board when it came to the release of dangerous criminals from jail.
But after Liz Truss became Prime Minister - replacing Mr Raab as justice secretary and shelving his Bill of Rights which was set to bring in the reform - Ms Fergus is anxious to ensure changes are still made to parole legislation.
Justice secretary Brandon Lewis has now offered to meet with Ms Fergus.
A Ministry of Justice spokesperson told the Standard: “The Justice Secretary has huge respect for Ms Fergus and her single-minded determination that no other families should go through her horrifying experience.
“He will be offering to meet her in person as soon as possible. He shares her desire to reform the parole process so that the public is always protected from the most dangerous offenders.”
