Jon Venables Will Be Released In June 2013: Then He’ll Disappear
JON Venabales, one of James Bulger’s killers, has lost his parole bid. He wanted to be released halfway through his two-year sentence for downloading child porn. Anorak now rounds up the media’s reactions to justice:
A Parole Board spokesman said:
“The Parole Board has now completed its review of the continued detention of Jon Venables in order to make recommendations to the Secretary of State as to his suitability for a move to open prison conditions or direct his release.
“A three-member panel of the board, chaired by a judge, held an oral hearing to review the case and come to a decision. That decision has been communicated to the two parties to the proceedings – the prisoner, the Secretary of State and also, via the Secretary of State, to the families of the victim in this case.”
He went on: “It is the policy of the board not to comment on or confirm its decisions or reasons in individual cases. Such information constitutes personal data within the definition of the Data Protection Act 1998 and its disclosure to unauthorised persons would contravene one or more of the data protection principles. It is the duty of the Secretary of State to notify appropriate authorities who may have a role in supervising an offender in the community of the outcome of the Parole Board hearing.”
Venables’ custodial sentence for the child abuse images runs out next month – at the mandatory half way point. But he will continue to serve the remainder of the life sentence he received for killing James Bulger in 1993. Every two years he will be eligible for parole. He will get another chance to be released by summer 2013. When he leaves jail he will be given a new identity.
Denise Fergus, James Bulger’s mother, is, as ever, the go-to point for media seeking a reaction:
“Venables is a very dangerous individual and it’s a huge relief to hear that he will not be getting out any time soon. He has proved in the past that he is not reformed and that he cannot be trusted. He has shown no remorse and he was not fit to be released when they let him out the first time at the age of eighteen. He’ a very cunning individual and God knows how many other crimes he might commit, and how many other people might suffer, if they did let him out. It’s too big a risk and thankfully they have seen though his lies and realised that the only safe place for him is behind bars. This time the Parole Board have made the right decision and I would like to thank them for that.”
Ralph Bulger, James’s dad, also speaks to media:
“The authorities just do not wish to face the reality that Venables’ recent sex crimes are related to his original murder of James. Documents that show the sexual element of James’s murder have been destroyed and not made available to those considering releasing Venables.
“They say they no longer exist but we have offered copies to them and they declined. How can they make a proper decision without all the facts? There is a clear child sex offence link to the murder of James and Venables’ recent offending. If Venables is let out now he will target children again.
“I just pray that the parole board finally see the truth – that Jon Venables is and always was a predatory sex killer who will never be changed. He will always be a danger to children which is why he must be locked up for life.”
The Sun produces Ralph Bulger’s statement in full. It is painful reading. But will the paper now do the same for all they who have lost a loved one to murder? Or is Jon Venables a special case ? Is the child who murdered while he was a child the worst of mankind?
“He was a normal, loveable kid getting his first taste of life but he had that stolen from him.When James disappeared I thought at first that he’d be OK as it was only kids who had taken him. When I found out I didn’t know how to tell my wife. How do you tell someone something so horrific? There was no way of putting it.I never got to see James’s body because he was so badly mutilated. Everyone thought it would destroy me – “cabbage” me. My brother Jimmy identified him and that’s stayed with him forever.
“We couldn’t have an open coffin because they bashed his skull in.I remember carrying his white coffin, it was one of the hardest things that I have ever had to do – every parent’s nightmare. I’d always wanted to remember James as he was the last time I saw him alive. But even that was denied me because I can’t get rid of the images in my head after I was told what they done to him. I think James must have been crying for me, but I wasn’t there for him.When I saw Thompson and Venables at the trial I felt pure hatred, like I’d never felt before in my life. But I also felt bad that I hated two kids that much.
“I wanted them to get life and it was so hard to sit there while they were laughing in the dock about killing James, sniggering about what they had done. I believe they knew what they were doing, because my daughter knew what was right from wrong when she was four years old. They decide to smash his skull, take his pants off and drag him on to the rail track because it would sever him in two.
“When they got released it was a victory for the murderers and a knife in the back for me.There were no rights for James. His only right was to be murdered. I thought we’d get justice but we didn’t. The State failed us and let James down. All I saw was the offenders getting the best of everything when my son was dead. It was like the State was saying, ‘Go out murder a child and we’ll look after you’.
“It’s hard waking up every morning knowing you have so much hate inside, thinking what those boys did.But they are not boys anymore. They are men who will continue to hurt others. It’s like a cancer that eats away at me. I can’t stop it because it’s my son that was murdered. I loved my son so much and they ripped him away from me. When the pressure got too much I’d drink myself stupid. I didn’t realise at the time I was just slowly killing myself. I am not an educated man but I still have feelings. I still bleed and I still love.I can’t understand why this has happened. I wish this had never happened but I can’t change anything.What the killers did made me the way I am today. I don’t like this person but I have to live with it.I find it hard to have fun with people, knowing my son was killed as he was. I put on a smile, but it’s false. People don’t always know what what I’m feeling, but I know what it’s like inside and it hurts. I wouldn’t want anyone else to feel like this.”
The Mirror says Venables wants to speak out:
A well-placed source said: “Venables would prefer a TV interview like the one Princess Diana did with the BBC in 1995. He would demand to be shot in shadow, but apart from that would be open to answering all questions. He believes the public would see he is not a monster.”
But it will not happen:
However, a Whitehall source said: “He is unlikely to be granted permission. Venables will get a new identity if and when he is released, which requires enormous time, money and planning to set up. Even if he was filmed in shadow, the risk of jeopardising that hard work would be too great.”
Still, the Mirror manages to conjure this nonsense:
In a move which would devastate murdered toddler James’s family, Venables, 28, has even compared it with BBC Panorama’s infamous Princess Diana interview.
Martin Bentham tells London Evening Standard readers:
Venables, 28, who murdered two-year-old James after abducting him from a shopping centre in Bootle, Merseyside, in 1993, was jailed for two years last July after admitting downloading and distributing indecent images of children.
He did not murder alone. Bentham makes no mention of Robert Thompson. The other killer is thought to have been the ring-leader. In court, he showed no remorse. Venables is said to be painfully thick….
Posted: 27th, June 2011 | In: Reviews Comments (5) | TrackBack | Permalink
