Overview
- Parole officials approved an oral hearing for Jon Venables after reviewing reports from prison staff, clinicians and written statements from James Bulger’s family.
- Denise Fergus has been cleared to observe the session with audio access as Venables’ face will be obscured to protect his legally guarded identity.
- Venables was released on licence in 2001 but later jailed in 2010 and again in 2018 for child sexual abuse image offences, with his most recent parole bid rejected in December 2023.
- Robert Thompson has not been known to reoffend since his 2001 release and is reported to have focused on education, art and a stable private life.
- Venables and Thompson were convicted in 1993 for abducting and killing two-year-old James Bulger after leading him from a Merseyside shopping centre.