John Venables ‘Sex Crime’ As Jack Straw Forced To Meet James Bulger’s Mum Denise Fergus
The UK’s highest legal Cabinet member is being forced into a meeting most would dearly love to avoid. He has to try and explain to a still grieving mum why her child’s killer deserves to stay anonymous and hidden within a protection programme. That State-funded protection is to stay in place after the murderer has been accused of breaching his life licence conditions.
STRAW, who represents the the Lancashire town of Blackburn, has agreed to meet Denise Fergus following the arrest last week of one of the toddler’s killers, Jon Venables, it was revealed early today.
Hot on the heels of that came The Sun’s sex crime allegation published in the last edition of the morning run. Enraged Ministry of Justice and Treasury legal eagles tried to halt the publication the Sun says.
If true, it represents a monumental failure in monitoring the life licence system. It also explains the difficulties the alleged offence creates. Is a trial necessary or does the Parole Board re-activate the life sentence? Since we do not know the man’s name it is difficult to be accused of conduct prejudicial to any trial.
The Sun said:
“Treasury solicitors acting on behalf of the Government’s top legal adviser, the Attorney General, demanded we withhold any information about Venables’ alleged offence.
“They argued that publishing full details of it would lead to his identification and potentially prejudice any criminal trial.”
Venables reportedly made several trips to Liverpool the city where he murdered the toddler, since being released, despite a ban on him doing so.
Mr Straw was expected to meet Denise Fergus soon. Despite the breaking news it will be difficult for him to renege on that agreement to meet. The attempt to justify his stance on a State funded multi-thousand pounds protection programme for a convicted killer in comparison to the indifference shown to the victim’s family will not be well-received.
Straw is a consummate politician and lawyer and is unlikely to give Mrs Fergus any satisfactory answers to her concerns. He is tied by his own Justice Ministry’s actions. He also happens to be Britain’s supreme lawyer as the Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain, the first ever not to sit in the House of Lords, and technically outranks the Prime Minister.
A Ministry of Justice spokesman said:
“The Justice Secretary has received a request to meet with Mrs Fergus. He plans to make arrangements to do so.”
The Press Association’s report through the night seemed be caught the tabloid feeding frenzy on the case and uses the unsubstantiated: “It is said” to claim Venables, 27, has visited nightclubs and a pop concert in Liverpool and even watched Premier League side Everton at Goodison Park.
After being released on licence and with a new identity in 2001, Venables was ordered not to return to Merseyside, among other conditions including a ban on meeting fellow convicted child killer Robert Thompson or approaching the Bulger family.
There has been increasing pressure on ministers to give details with open differences between Cabinet members on the level of transparency needed.
The Herald said:
“Victims’ rights champion Helen Newlove, whose husband Garry was kicked to death by a gang outside their home in Warrington in 2007, said it was cruel not to tell James Bulger’s parents the full details. She urged the Prime Minister to think again after he and Mr Straw declared the new allegations faced by the murderer must remain secret.
Mrs Newlove, above, said: “It is another case of the victims not coming into it and the criminals being protected.
“What Jack Straw has said is ludicrous. Venables has breached his parole and should be staying in jail.”
Both Mr Straw and the Prime Minister earlier this week refused to disclose the reasons for the recall. This was regarded as a slap on the wrist for UK Home Secretary Alan Johnson who had first said the public had a right to know the details of the recall and then backed off by saying justice had to take it’s course.
The Justice Secretary Straw said:
“There are good reasons to withhold this information and that is genuinely in the public interest.”
No One Protecting Me
Denise Fergus made the point:
“They are always going on about their lives, protecting them, but there’s no one protecting me. They have been given the best education, new identities, new lives, homes, jobs, money. What about James?”
This was descending into a farce with inside prison contacts saying Venables, who is still under his false name and in an adult prison for the first time, has been recognised and is cowering in he cells for fear of reprisals. Another reason for his worries may now be emerging.
The secrecy screen is no security in these circumstances. The recall was brought about by Venables’ alleged actions as an adult not when he was convicted as one of the youngest ever murderers through the UK courts.
The Times’ Laura Pitel interviewed Denise Fergus:
“The mother of the murdered toddler James Bulger has spoken of the ‘wall of silenc’ that she faced in the wake of the return to custody of one of her son’s killers.
Denise Fergus, 42, said that her requests to be told the reasons why Jon Venables — who along with Robert Thompson was convicted of killing her son in 1993 — had been sent back to prison had been refused.
Mrs Fergus, 42, spoke of a visit to her home in Kirkby by Anne Pakula, head of operations in Merseyside for the National Probation Service (the Home Office department which had to keep an eye on life-licence released prisoners). “I threw question after question at her, but she blocked every one,” she said. “She either couldn’t or wouldn’t answer me.
“I told her, ‘Well, it’s got to be serious for you to be sitting there telling me he’s back in custody. It wouldn’t be this big unless it was really serious.’
“My fear was that he’d hurt another child, or any other human being. I just don’t want anyone else hurt by Venables or Thompson. I wanted to know that he hadn’t done to someone else what he did to James and me.”
Jack Straw may not find this meeting easy, if he goes ahead with it. He is a strong man and stood up to the USA and Tony Blair over the then bellicose attitude to Iran. That cost him his Foreign Secretary post. He will find the angry Denise Fergus is in no mood for empty expressions or tea and sympathy.
The story so far (newest at the top):
James Bulger And Jon Venables: The Killer Worked As A Bouncer
James Bulger And Jon Venables: The Killer Is Identified
Jon Venables’ Girlfriend, A ‘Stabbing’ And A Politically Incorrect Jack Straw
James Bulger: This IS Jon Venables
James Bulger’s Killer Jon Venables: Pictures And Sickening Detail
Posted: 6th, March 2010 | In: Key Posts, Reviews Comments (9) | TrackBack | Permalink
