James Bulger's killer Jon Venables granted parole hearing

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By James Kay

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Jon Venables, one of James Bulger's killers, has been granted a parole hearing.

As per Sky News, the two-day parole hearing will take place on November 14 and 15, with his previous hearing for October 2022 being delayed.

Venables, alongside Robert Thompson, was 10 years old when they snatched two-year-old Bulger from a shopping center in Merseyside, UK, before brutally killing the toddler in 1993.

The death of Bulger rocked the UK, with both of the convicted being handed life sentences. However, they were both released in 2001 and given new identities, and Thompson has not committed any crimes since.

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Jon Venables was 10 when he committed the murder alongside Robert Thompson. Credit: BWP Media/Getty

Venables was sent back to prison in 2010 and then again in 2017 for having indecent images of children.

The parole board has stated that they will be looking at all the evidence during their deliberations, including details about the original crime and whether Venables has displayed a character change.

A spokesperson for the board said: "Parole Board decisions are solely focused on what risk a prisoner could represent to the public if released and whether that risk is manageable in the community.

"Members read and digest hundreds of pages of evidence and reports in the lead-up to an oral hearing. Evidence from witnesses including probation officers, psychiatrists and psychologists, officials supervising the offender in prison as well as victim personal statements are then given at the hearing."

They added: "The prisoner and witnesses are then questioned at length during the hearing, which often lasts a full day or more. Parole reviews are undertaken thoroughly and with extreme care. Protecting the public is our number one priority."

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The murder of James Bulger horrified the UK. Credit: Ian Cook/Getty Image

Earlier this year, Michael Fergus, Bulger's brother who was born eight months after the murder, detailed to the Sunday Express that he believes Venables should spend the rest of his life behind bars.

"My brother's killers will never be forgiven," he said. "They took away my older brother who I never got to meet. I would have loved to have looked up to him, asked him questions, talked to him about exams, cars, going to bars, normal stuff.

"But because of those two, I never got the chance. They robbed me of my childhood, in a nutshell."

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Robert Thompson has remained out of jail since his release in 2001. Credit: BWP Media/Getty

The case of Bulger's death is one that many in the UK are familiar with, with the Guardian reporting that for the residents of Bootle, the town where Bulger was abducted and killed, the wounds have not healed.

Bulger was led away from his mother by the two boys, and although many people saw the three walking hand in hand, they thought nothing of it as they assumed they were brothers.

The 10-year-olds took Bulger to a railway line where they proceeded to bludgeon him with weapons, which included an iron bar, and then proceeded to leave him to die on the tracks.

The two boys remain the youngest ever to be convicted of murder in the UK.

Featured image credit: BWP Media/Getty