James Bulger’s mum Denise Fergus calls for Jon Venables to keep anonymity – as dad Ralph launches new bid to unmask son’s killer
JAMES Bulger's killer Jon Venables could have his identity revealed after the murdered tot's dad launched a legal bid.
Ralph Bulger and his brother Jimmy have launched the High Court proceedings against the order that allows paedo Venables to live under a cloak of anonymity.
But James's mum Denise Fergus is not involved in the bid and said her son's killer should keep his anonymity to avoid "vigilante action".
In a statement, she said: "I understand the motivation for the application, but my concern is that if Venables were known by his own name, it could lead to vigilante action and innocent people being hurt."
Ralph and Jimmy's application is being aired in open court before the most senior family judge in England and Wales.
The court was told today by their lawyer Robert Makin the original injunction was granted on the basis Venables was rehabilitated and would not reoffend.
But the fiend has since been convicted on two separate occasions - most recently in February - over indecent images of children.
He has been living under a new identity since his release from prison in 2001 for the kidnap, torture and murder of two-year-old James while was aged just ten.
Mr Bulger has launched the bid despite Venables' new identity remaining protected through two convictions after he murdered James.
It is unclear if Mr Bulger's new challenge will be a success.
Venables, along with Robert Thompson, snatched the tot from a shopping centre in Bootle, Merseyside, in February 1993, before killing him and leaving him on a railway track.
His new identity has remained protected through the two convictions.
In February, he was sent back to jail for three years and four months after admitting surfing the dark web for extreme child abuse images and possessing a “sickening” paedophile manual.
It comes after Denise revealed yesterday how she felt sick to her stomach at hearing her son’s killer speak for the first time in a quarter of a century.
She was in court for Venables' sentencing as he pleaded guilty to possessing a more than a thousand indecent images of children.
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In an updated version of her memoir I Let Him Go, , the 50-year-old recalled the moment she learnt Venables was facing a trial.
She wrote: "Hearing his voice ringing out around the court made me feel sick to my stomach.
“In my opinion, it was yet another example of the system protecting him at all costs and putting his comfort first – of course he didn’t want to face me; that didn’t mean he shouldn’t have to.”
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