Jon Venables, one of the two child killers of toddler James Bulger, has been charged for possessing indecent images of children and now faces a secret trial.
The 35-year-old, who goes under a new identity and so will not be named during his trial, served eight years in prison for murdering two-year-old Bulger when he was 10 years old.
In a statement Friday, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) confirmed “the man formerly known as Jon Venables has been charged with offences relating to indecent images of children and will appear in the Crown Court”.
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In 1993, Venables and his friend Robert Thompson, also 10, abducted, tortured, and killed the toddler in Liverpool after leading him away from a shopping center when Bulger’s mother was distracted.
Both were released on license under new identities in 2001 at the age of 18, meaning they could be recalled to jail at any time if found to breach any of the conditions of their release.
Venables was arrested in 2008 after a drunken brawl and given a formal warning for breaching the good behavior terms of his license. Later that same year, he was again cautioned for possessing cocaine.
In 2010, Venables was recalled to jail for two years after pleading guilty to downloading and distributing child pronography, and breaching his parole conditions by visiting the Merseyside area. He was released in 2013 under another new identity.
The date and place of his new trial cannot be reported under the CPS’s restrictions regarding young people as defendants.
“In order that justice can be done, no further details are being released at this stage and the proceedings are subject to reporting restrictions,” the CPS statement said, as cited by the AFP.