Evil James Bulger killer Jon Venables skips parole hearing held in private ‘to protect his mental health’

CHILD killer Jon Venables did not appear or speak  at his parole hearing — after it was  held in private to protect his mental health.

Venables, whose identity would have been disguised, “took the easy option” to avoid hearing the impact statements of his victim James Bulger’s parents, it was claimed.

He also dodged any cross-examination and comments from Justice Secretary Alex Chalk who, like James’s mum and dad, opposed his release.

A decision on whether to free him is expected to be taken within a week.

Venables, 41, was allowed a private hearing after the Parole Board ruled he would face “disproportionate emotional stress” if he were to be questioned in public.

A source said: “It was made private to protect him and he does this.

"It means it wouldn’t have made any difference if the hearing had been public.

“It makes a mockery of it all. He’s been a coward to the end.

"He probably didn’t want to hear the impact statements so took the easy option.”

The source added: “It is not clear whether it was his decision or if he’d been advised not to attend.”

Officials at last week’s hearing were given a report branding Venables a high risk to children.

James’s dad Ralph, 57, who has separated from his mum, Denise Fergus, has urged the Parole Board not to release Venables.

He told The Sun last week: “He’ll kill again.”

Denise, who has remarried, urged them to “do the right thing”.

Venables and accomplice Robert Thompson were ten when they abducted James, two, from a shopping centre in Bootle, Merseyside, in 1993.

The tot’s tortured body was found two days later beside a railway line.

The killers were detained indefinitely and were released in 2001 with new identities.

Thompson has not reoffended but Venables was hauled back to jail in 2010 for hoarding child abuse images and, in 2017, for possessing a “paedophile manual”. He was refused parole in 2020.