Jon Venables Parole Hearing to Remain Private, Denying Mother's Plea

Jon Venables, one of the killers of toddler James Bulger, will not have his upcoming parole hearing conducted in public, the Parole Board has decided. This decision comes despite a plea from James Bulger's mother, Denise Fergus, who had urged for a public hearing so Venables would be forced to confront his crimes.

The Parole Board stated that making the hearing public would increase the "risk of identifying the prisoner and of sensationalising the case." Venables was granted lifetime anonymity due to committing the murder as a child.

Venables was 10 years old when he, along with fellow 10-year-old Robert Thompson, abducted, tortured, and murdered two-year-old James Bulger on February 12, 1993. The abduction occurred while James was with his mother in a shopping center in Bootle, Merseyside.

Now 43 or 44 years old (sources differ on age), Venables was first released on license in 2001. He has since been recalled to prison twice: first in 2010 after being convicted of possessing indecent images of children, and again in 2017 for an unspecified reason. His previous bid for release was denied in 2023. Mrs. Fergus was notified in January of this year that Venables would have another opportunity to present his case to the Parole Board.