James Bulger killer Jon Venables ‘could be given taxpayer-funded plastic surgery to protect his identity’ – as tot’s dad bids to unmask him
Dad Ralph Bulger wants the anonymity order protecting Jon Venables changed because of his repeat offending
EVIL Jon Venables could get taxpayer-funded plastic surgery to further protect his anonymity, it has emerged.
James Bulger's dad Ralph - backed by the James’s uncle Jimmy - is fighting to have the anonymity order protecting Venables lifted because of his repeat offending.
But Venables, now 35, is likely to fight any attempt to overturn it and yesterday it was claimed he could even undertake plastic surgery.
The killer has been granted legal aid, likely to run to tens of thousands of pounds, to be represented in the case at London’s High Court.
Robin Makin, for Ralph and Jimmy Bulger, told the hearing he wanted the Ministry of Justice to hand over a cache of documents it held on Venables.
The killer was granted lifetime anonymity alongside friend Robert Thompson on their release from youth custody in 2001.
Yet Mr Makin said the order had been given at the time because it was felt Venables was rehabilitated and posed no further risk.
Venables, who with Thompson abducted, tortured and murdered two-year-old James on Merseyside in 1993, has since been jailed twice for child sex offences.
Mr Makin told the court Ralph and Jimmy Bulger had “suffered enormously” while Venables had been protected, given a new identity.
It was also claimed that he could be given “plastic surgery”. Mr Makin said he also wanted to instruct experts to explain why the gagging order should be changed.
Yesterday Denise Fergus, James’s mother, confirmed she was not backing Ralph’s court bid.
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.
“Beyond that, I have no further comment to make."
The hearing, in front of Sir James Munby, the President of the Family Division, was told Venables had been given a legal aid certificate to fund his lawyers for the case.
Mr Makin was ordered to tell the court exactly what part of the gagging order he wanted to challenge by June 4.
If the case goes to a full hearing some of it could yet be held in secret to protect Venables.
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The monster’s most recent conviction came in February when he was jailed for three years and four months for trawling the dark web for more than 1,000 child abuse images.
The Sun exclusively revealed how he had been recalled to jail last November.
The case was adjourned until June 4.
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