Jon Venables Stays in Prison After Telling Parole Board He Won't Seek Release

Jon Venables, one of the two killers of two-year-old James Bulger, will remain in prison after telling a Parole Board panel that he was not asking to be released, the BBC reported. The panel, which held its latest review in private, also concluded that he was not ready to leave custody.

According to the BBC, a summary of the panel's findings said Venables began the hearing with a statement accepting that he needed to do more offending-related work in custody, so he was not seeking release.

How the case reached this point

• 1993: Venables and Robert Thompson, both 10 at the time, took James Bulger from a shopping center in Bootle, Merseyside. They tortured and murdered him, the BBC reported.
• July 2001: Venables was released on licence.
• February 2010: He was recalled to prison after indecent images of children were found on his computer.
• August 2013: He was freed again.
• November 2017: He was called back to prison for the same type of offense.
• September 2020: Parole judges considered his case again.

What the panel heard and decided

The panel took evidence from probation officers based in the prison and in the community, three psychologists and a psychiatrist. According to the BBC, all but one of those professionals concluded that Venables should stay in prison.

The panel also heard a victim personal statement. The summary said it clearly conveyed the devastating impact of the crime and of Venables' later offending.

Panel members raised concerns about how well Venables would work with probation staff if he were freed, and how open and honest he would be under supervision. They said he needed to do further work in custody to address his sexual interests.

The summary also recorded that Venables expressed deep and lasting remorse for the killing. Professionals judged that remorse to be "genuine and sincere," according to the BBC. The panel nonetheless said it was "not satisfied that Mr Venables was suitable for release."

What this means in practice

For now, Venables stays in custody. The outcome is not a refusal of a release request in the usual sense, because he did not make one. He told the panel he accepted that more work had to be done in prison first.

The panel's findings point to what that work involves. Its summary named his sexual interests as an area needing attention in custody. It also cited doubts about whether he would cooperate with probation staff and be candid with them if he were released. Those are the issues that have counted against him in the panel's assessment. He has been recalled twice since 2001, both times after indecent images of children were found.

The case remains one of the best-known in British criminal history. The BBC's account of the summary shows that the professionals who assessed Venables were almost united in their view that he should not leave prison at this stage. The sources do not say when his case will next be reviewed.

Read next
Australian Court Upholds Vegemite Ban in Prison, Rejecting Inmate’s Culture Claim
Why Was Brad Lander Detained in the West Bank? Questions and Answers
Selfridges Opens GTA 6 Pop-Up With 60 Items and a £2,500 Jacket

Around Prague, based on reporting by BBC News