James Bulger’s father calls private parole hearing for killer an ‘insult’

James Bulger’s father calls private parole hearing for killer an ‘insult’ A Parole Board recently decided that Jon Venables' hearing would be held in private, despite calls for it to be held in public - Bookmark Become an Independent member to bookmark this article Already a member? Log in The father of James Bulger has said the decision to hold his killer’s parole hearing in private is “an insult” and like trampling over the toddler’s grave, The Sun on Sunday has reported. Child killer Jon Venables, who tortured and murdered two-year-old James in 1993, will have his bid for freedom heard by parole chiefs at an oral hearing more than two years after his last appeal. The Parole Board recently decided the hearing would be held in private, despite calls from James’s family and a number of media organisations that it be held in public. James’s father Ralph, 59, told The Sun on Sunday: “I’m absolutely raging at this. “Our feelings and emotions don’t matter to faceless parole chiefs, although we were given assurances we could attend. “It’s an insult and like trampling over James’s grave,” Mr Bulger added. “Once again it’s all about looking after child killer and paedophile Venables while James’s family are tossed aside like the rubbish.” James’s mother, Denise Fergus, had previously demanded that the hearing be held in public to help combat “misinformation” about the case, which had a “retraumatising impact” on her. She had said a public hearing could improve general understanding of the parole process and would have made her “finally feel listened to”. Parole Board hearings are usually held in private, but they can be made public “in the interests of justice”. But the Parole Board said a public hearing would make it “very difficult” for 44-year-old Venables to give evidence because he could be “being listened to by people who are seeking to get information so that they can kill him”. “He’s a coward, and is still a danger to children,” Mr Bulger further told The Sun on Sunday. “If the Parole Board buckle, I urge Andy Burnham to step in and block his release.” At Venables’ latest parole hearing in 2023, the Parole Board rejected the bid and found he still posed a danger to children and could go on to offend again. Venables was jailed alongside Robert Thompson after the pair of 10-year-olds snatched James from a shopping centre in Bootle, Merseyside, in February 1993. Venables was released on licence in July 2001 and recalled to prison in February 2010 after indecent images of children were found on his computer. He was once again freed in August 2013 and then called back in November 2017 for the same offence, with parole judges considering his case again in September 2020. A spokeswoman for Ms Fergus previously said her application to observe the hearing had been granted. 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.