Jon Venables: James Bulger killer 'back in prison after being caught with indecent images of children for second time'
'Here we go again,' says mother of toddler killed in 1993
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One of the child killers who tortured and mutilated toddler James Bulger is reportedly back in prison after child abuse images were found on his computer.
Jon Venables, who along with Robert Thompson took the life of two-year-old James in 1993, is said to have been arrested last week after a routine check at his home.
It is the second time Venables has been caught with such images on his computer, according to The Sun, after being jailed in 2010 for downloading and distributing child pornography.
Venables and Thompson were 10 years old when they were found guilty of James Bulger's murder, making them two of the youngest convicted killers in British history.
They served eight-year sentences and were granted life-long anonymity that saw them released under new identities in 2001.
As the news broke on Wednesday night, James’ mother Denise Fergus tweeted: “Here we go again.”
The Sun quoted a source it said was close to the investigation as saying: "It's all about protecting the public.
“We have these systems so those who could be a risk to the public are picked up. That’s what happened here.”
Venables went on to offend again after his first release from prison, including arrests for affray and cocaine possession in 2008.
He pleaded guilty to downloading images of child abuse in 2010 and was granted parole in 2013, which saw him handed a second new identity.
James Bulger was abducted from his mother in New Strand Shopping Centre in Bootle on 12 February 1993. Within hours, he would die at the hands of Venables and Thompson.
His mutilated body was found two days later on a railway line two-and-a-half miles away in Walton, Liverpool.
Venables and Thompson were charged on 20 February 1993 in a case that is still debated to this day on how to handle young offenders when they are sentenced or released from custody.
Although Venables has not yet been charged with any offence, he is reportedly being held at a maximum category A jail.
In 2011, after Venables' first arrest for child pornography images, a solicitor speaking on behalf of James' father, Ralph Bulger, said authorities had demonstrated an “inability to cope” with putting a criminal like Venables back in society.
“It was crass and stupid. It was never going to work,” said solicitor Robin Makin.
“The problem as we see it is this: the authorities, because of their liberal agenda, don’t really want to see Jon Venables for the person that he actually is.”
In response to his latest reported offending, a Ministry of Justice spokeswoman said: "We do not comment on individuals."
Additional reporting from PA.