Overview
- A Parole Board member has directed an oral hearing after the Secretary of State for Justice referred Jon Venables’ case, with the date yet to be set.
- News reports indicate the session is expected within the next month, though officials have not confirmed a timetable.
- Denise Fergus has been granted permission to observe by video link from a separate room, hearing Venables but not seeing his face due to identity protections.
- Her victim impact statement is expected to be presented to the panel as part of the evidence considered at the hearing.
- Venables was twice recalled to prison for child abuse imagery and in 2018 received a 40‑month sentence, while a 2023 Parole Board panel found he still posed a risk to children and refused release.