{"id":693775,"date":"2026-01-13T19:32:20","date_gmt":"2026-01-13T19:32:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/693775\/"},"modified":"2026-01-13T19:32:20","modified_gmt":"2026-01-13T19:32:20","slug":"james-bulger-killer-set-for-latest-parole-bid-for-freedom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/693775\/","title":{"rendered":"James Bulger killer set for latest parole bid for freedom"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Child killer Jon Venables is set to have his latest bid for freedom heard by the Parole Board.<\/p>\n<p>The 43-year-old, who tortured and murdered two-year-old James Bulger in 1993, will have his case heard by parole chiefs at an oral hearing more than two years after his last appeal.<\/p>\n<p>In 2023, the Parole Board rejected the bid and found he still posed a danger to children and could go on to offend again.<\/p>\n<p>Venables was jailed alongside Robert Thompson after the pair of 10-year-olds snatched James from a shopping centre in Bootle, Merseyside, in February 1993.<\/p>\n<p>Venables was released on licence in July 2001 and recalled to prison in February 2010 after indecent images of children were found on his computer.<\/p>\n<p>He was once again freed in August 2013 and then called back in November 2017 for the same offence, with parole judges considering his case again in September 2020.<\/p>\n<p>The Daily Mirror reported that James\u2019s family was informed on Tuesday of the upcoming parole hearing, which it said is expected next month.<\/p>\n<p>No date has yet been confirmed by the Parole Board.<\/p>\n<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1000\" height=\"667\" data-id=\"232141\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/embedded234832264-scaled-e1768324887673.jpg\" alt=\"Denise Fergus James Bulger Mother\" class=\"wp-image-232141\"\/>Credit: PA<\/p>\n<p>Spokeswoman Kym Morris, on behalf of James\u2019s mum Denise Fergus, told the paper:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOnce again, Denise Fergus has been forced to confront a process that reopens unimaginable trauma.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDenise was hoping for a redirection \u2026 allowing her a measure of peace and protection from further distress. That hope has now been taken away.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Ms Morris added that Ms Fergus\u2019s application to observe the hearing has been granted.<\/p>\n<p>Victims have been able to attend parole hearings held in private under reforms rolled out nationally in April as part of efforts to boost confidence in the justice system.<\/p>\n<p>Get the latest Liverpool news\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/theguideliverpool.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">here<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Find out what\u2019s good up North on our new platform, The Northern Guide.\u00a0<br \/>\nFrom the best hotels, beauty spots, days out, food and more up North \u2013 visit<a href=\"https:\/\/thenorthernguide.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">\u00a0thenorthernguide.com<\/a>\u00a0and follow The Northern Guide on Instagram\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/thenorthernguideuk\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">HERE.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>                <script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Child killer Jon Venables is set to have his latest bid for freedom heard by the Parole Board.&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":693776,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8815],"tags":[748,393,4884,134961,209449,179,1126,12,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-693775","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-liverpool","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-england","10":"tag-great-britain","11":"tag-james-bulger","12":"tag-jon-venables","13":"tag-liverpool","14":"tag-liverpool-news","15":"tag-news","16":"tag-uk","17":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115889461295613980","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/693775","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=693775"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/693775\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/693776"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=693775"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=693775"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=693775"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}