{"id":368536,"date":"2026-01-14T02:49:12","date_gmt":"2026-01-14T02:49:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/368536\/"},"modified":"2026-01-14T02:49:12","modified_gmt":"2026-01-14T02:49:12","slug":"james-bulger-killer-jon-venables-set-for-further-parole-hearing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/368536\/","title":{"rendered":"James Bulger killer Jon Venables set for further parole hearing"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/1768062431_105_grey-placeholder.png\" class=\"sc-5340b511-0 gUePlo hide-when-no-script\" aria-label=\"image unavailable\"\/><img decoding=\"async\"   src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/d8cc2580-87ea-11f0-b36e-47414de99d82.jpg.webp.webp\" loading=\"eager\" alt=\"Merseyside Police A police custody shot of a young Jon Venables, wearing a dark jumper, after his arrest. He is standing in front of a height chart showing he stands just over 4ft 6in tall.  \" class=\"sc-5340b511-0 hLdNfA\"\/>Merseyside Police<\/p>\n<p>Jon Venables has been jailed twice since he was released for the 1993 murder of James Bulger<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">Child killer Jon Venables is set to have his latest bid for freedom heard by the Parole Board.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">The now 43-year-old, who tortured and murdered two-year-old James Bulger in 1993 when he was only 10, will have his case heard by parole bosses at an oral hearing more than two years after his previous appeal.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">In 2023, the Parole Board rejected Venables&#8217; bid, concluding he still posed a danger to children and could go on to reoffend.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">Venables and Robert Thompson, also 10, snatched toddler James from a shopping centre in Bootle, Merseyside, in February 1993.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/1768062431_105_grey-placeholder.png\" class=\"sc-5340b511-0 gUePlo hide-when-no-script\" aria-label=\"image unavailable\"\/><img decoding=\"async\"   src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/9745ecb0-87e8-11f0-b36e-47414de99d82.jpg.webp.webp\" loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"PA Media Toddler James Bulger is wearing a brown jumper over a blue shirt and is smiling at the camera.\" class=\"sc-5340b511-0 hLdNfA\"\/>PA Media<\/p>\n<p>James Bulger was abducted and killed by Jon Venables and Robert Thompson<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">Venables was released on licence in July 2001 but was recalled to prison in February 2010 after indecent images of children were found on his computer.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">He was freed again in August 2013 only to be called back to jail in November 2017 for the same offence.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">Parole judges considered his case again in September 2020.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">The <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mirror.co.uk\/news\/uk-news\/james-bulgers-mum-hear-voice-36540339\" class=\"sc-f9178328-0 iCaRzc\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Daily Mirror reported<\/a> that James Bulger&#8217;s family had been informed of the upcoming parole hearing, which it said was expected to take place next month.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">No date has yet been confirmed by the Parole Board.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;Unimaginable trauma&#8217;<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">Kym Morris, speaking on behalf of James&#8217;s mum Denise Fergus, told the newspaper: &#8220;Once again, Denise Fergus has been forced to confront a process that reopens unimaginable trauma.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">&#8220;Denise was hoping for a redirection, allowing her a measure of peace and protection from further distress. That hope has now been taken away.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">Morris added that an application from James&#8217;s mum to observe the hearing had been granted.<\/p>\n<p class=\"sc-9a00e533-0 eZyhnA\">Victims have been able to attend parole hearings held in private under reforms rolled out nationally in April as part of efforts to boost confidence in the justice system.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Merseyside Police Jon Venables has been jailed twice since he was released for the 1993 murder of James&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":368537,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[59,57,58,50,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-368536","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-kingdom","tag-gb","tag-great-britain","tag-greatbritain","tag-news","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/368536","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=368536"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/368536\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/368537"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=368536"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=368536"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=368536"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}