The mother of James Bulger has said Jon Venables “feels like he is a celebrity” as she vowed to “still be fighting” to deny him parole in two years.
Denise Fergus said she is “still in shock” after hearing one of her son’s killers yesterday had his bid rejected by a parole board panel following a two-day hearing held behind closed doors.
Venables, now 41, was jailed alongside Robert Thompson in 1993 for the brutal murder of two-year-old James, when they were both aged 10.
The pair were given life sentences but were released on licence with new identities in 2001 when they were 18.
Venables was sent back to jail in 2010 after indecent images of children were found on his computer and served another three years before being recalled again in 2017 for the same offence.
On Wednesday, the panel concluded that it “was not satisfied that release at this point would be safe for the protection of the public”.
Speaking to Sky News’ Sophy Ridge, Ms Fergus said she felt like James’s killers “were never punished for the crime” because they served eight years in a young offenders prison and were then released.
And despite the decision this week, she said she will “still be fighting in two years time”, when Venables will be eligible for another parole review.
“In my eyes, he [Venables] feels like he has done right, he feels like he is the celebrity in all of this, he feels like he is the one that has been wronged, but he hasn’t,” she said.
Advertisement
“I don’t think he should ever be released.”
Describing her son as a “joy to be around”, Ms Fergus said she has never given up giving James a voice.
“I feel like I have to speak on his behalf,” she said.
“It has taken me a long time to get over James’ death anyway, but to continue the fight the way I have done it has just been a rollercoaster ride.”
‘I have actually been listened to’
Ms Fergus said she has always thought that if the pair were released they would reoffend, because they had not been punished properly for her son’s death.
“It is the very first time I have felt in 30 years that I have actually been listened to,” she said.
“All that I have said and done in the past, it has now come to light that what I have said is the truth.”
She added: “I did say at the time because they weren’t properly punished because they weren’t in a proper prison that either one or both of them are going to go on and reoffend.
“And that is exactly what’s happened.”
Ms Fergus and James’s other relatives were barred from attending the parole hearing, but a lawyer representing them was able to listen to the proceedings.
Because of this, Venables refused to give evidence during the latest hearing, claiming he was “not comfortable discussing some aspects of the case with the family representative listening” and instead asked the panel to consider his review based solely on written evidence, according to parole papers.
“That just shows you how much of a coward he is,” Ms Fergus said, in reaction.
“He is the one that has caused 30 years of pain in my life and he took James’s life away from him. He destroyed one life but has completely destroyed my family.”
Kym Morris, chair of The James Bulger Memorial Trust, said they are now calling on Justice Secretary Alex Chalk to discuss changes to parole hearings.
“Victim families should have full access to all of the transcripts, evidence, everything,” Ms Morris said.
“If you went to a trial, you would have access to all of this, so what difference does a parole hearing have?
The man who served 14 years in jail for the murder of schoolboy Jimmy Mizen has been recalled to prison for breaching his licence conditions.
It follows reporting in The Sun newspaper that Jake Fahri, 35, was a drill rapper releasing music under the name TEN, who conceals his identity with a balaclava, and was played on BBC 1Xtra.
A Probation Service spokesperson said: “Our thoughts are with Jimmy Mizen’s family who deserve better than to see their son’s murderer shamelessly boasting about his violent crime.”
Jimmy’s father Barry told Sky News: “We’re not gloating or anything, in a way it’s quite sad.”
His son bled to death after Fahri threw an oven dish at him in a south London bakery on 10 May 2008.
The dish shattered on his chin and severed an artery in the schoolboy’s neck.
Fahri was 19 when he was given a life sentence in 2009 with a minimum term of 14 years and was released on licence in June 2023.
More from UK
His music was played on BBC 1Xtra less than 18 months later, the Sun reported, adding that DJ Theo Johnson named him an “up-and-coming star”.
Jimmy’s father earlier said he and his wife Margaret were “stunned into silence” when they were told about Fahri’s music, which often features violent themes.
In one song, which appears to reference Jimmy’s death, he raps about “sharpening” a blade.
“Judge took a look at me, before the trial even started he already knows he’s gonna throw the book at me,” the lyrics say.
Another track includes the lines: “See a man’s soul fly from his eyes and his breath gone… I wanted more, it made it less wrong. Seeing blood spilled same floor he was left on.”
The BBC has said the artist’s tracks do not feature on any BBC playlists, and that a track which appeared to reference Jimmy’s death had never been played on its channels.
A spokesman for the broadcaster added there were “no further plans to play his music”, adding: “We were not aware of his background and we in no way condone his actions.”
A Probation Service spokesperson said: “All offenders released on licence are subject to strict conditions. As this case shows, we will recall them to prison if they break the rules.”
Jimmy’s parents founded the Mizen Foundation after their son’s death. The charity helps young people in London who are escaping violence.
Mr Mizen said: “It appears that if he’s been recalled to prison, he must’ve breached his licence conditions
The man suspected of abducting Madeleine McCann won’t face any charges in the foreseeable future, a prosecutor has told Sky News.
German drifter Christian B, who cannot be fully identified under his country’s privacy law, is expected to be freed from an unrelated jail sentence this year while police in three countries continue to search for evidence against him.
Prosecutor Hans Christian Wolters said: “There is currently no prospect of an indictment in the Maddie case.
“As things stand, the accused Christian B’s imprisonment will end in early September.”
Madeleine, aged three, was asleep with her younger twin siblings in the family’s Portuguese rented holiday apartment before mother Kate discovered her missing at around 10pm on 3 May, 2007.
Her parents were dining nearby on the complex with friends and taking turns to check on all their sleeping children every half an hour.
Madeleine’s disappearance has become the world’s most mysterious missing child case.
Philipp Marquort, one of Christian B’s defence lawyers, welcomed the prosecutor’s pessimism about bringing charges.
He said: “This confirms the suspicions that we have repeatedly expressed, namely that there is no reliable evidence against our client.
“We regret that we have not yet been granted access to the investigation files. We have not yet been able to effectively counter the public prejudice arising from statements made by the prosecutor’s office.”
Christian B, 47, is in jail and coming to the end of his sentence for the rape of an elderly American woman in Praia da Luz, the Portuguese resort where Madeleine disappeared.
In October, he was acquitted on a series of rape and indecent assault charges after a non-jury trial in Germany, in which several references were made to his status as the main suspect in the Madeleine case.
The prosecutor said he was awaiting the court’s written judgment before launching an appeal against the acquittal. He believes the trial judges were biased against the prosecution.
If successful, he could apply for a new arrest warrant for Christian B to keep him in custody until a retrial with new judges.
He said: “We hope that the Federal Court of Justice will decide before the end of the accused’s imprisonment. If the Federal Court follows our legal opinion, we could apply for a new arrest warrant for the accused’s offences, so that the accused would then remain in custody beyond September 2025.
Mr Marquort said the defence team would oppose the prosecution’s appeal against the acquittal.
Prosecutor Mr Wolters has said in the past that he believes Madeleine is dead and that Christian B was responsible for her death. The suspect denies any involvement.
The case against Christian B is purely circumstantial; he’s alleged to have confessed to a friend that he abducted Madeleine, he has convictions for sex crimes against children, he was living in the area at the time, his mobile phone was close by when the young girl vanished and he re-registered one of his vehicles the next day.
The prosecutor won’t say what evidence he has to convince him Madeleine is dead, but he admitted he is still trying to find forensic evidence to link Christian B to the girl.
Jim Gamble, former head of the UK Child Exploitation and Online Protection centre, said he had expected the prosecutor to charge Christian B soon.
“He’s implied the whole way through that he has something more than the public are aware of,” he said.
“He’s made fairly definitive statements about whether Madeleine is alive or dead so you would expect their strategy to have been to charge him sooner rather than later.
“From what he’s said today I wonder if we’re witnessing the re-positioning of something to manage the disappointment that’ll come.”
Mr Wolters, who is based in Braunschweig, Lower Saxony, is investigating the case with the help of Portuguese police and detectives from Scotland Yard.
An investigation, led by the Surrey and Sussex Police Major Crime Team, is under way and inquiries remain ongoing, police said.
Senior Investigating Officer DCI Kimball Edey said specialist officers “are working around the clock to gather as much information as possible,” and that the force’s “thoughts are with the family and friends of the victims at this unbelievably difficult time”.