The latest item of stupidity from our cousins across the Atlantic....

James' father, Ralph, who last year threatened to find the teenagers and exact revenge, said in a statement from his lawyers that he felt "angry, frustrated and completely let down by the system."

A Cabinet member announcing a parole decision is extremely rare, but few cases in Britain have aroused such intense public interest.

Venables and Thompson lured James from a shopping center in Bootle, near Liverpool, as he waited outside a butcher shop for his mother. A video camera captured images of the toddler being led away by the two older boys, and those scenes have been replayed countless times on British television.

The boys dragged and led the 2-year-old two miles through town to a railway line, where they hit him with bricks and metal bars, poured paint in his eyes and finally placed him on the tracks, where a train cut him in half.

The decision to release Venables and Thompson came less than two months before they faced likely transfer to an adult prison, a move a judge warned would be harmful for their rehabilitation.

The pair have spent eight years in a secure children's unit after being found guilty of abducting and murdering James in February 1993.

A three-member parole board, consisting of a judge, a psychiatrist and an independent member, considered the teenagers' cases separately this week. The panel questioned the young men, studied psychiatric reports, considered statements from criminologists and doctors, and reviewed school records.

As a condition of their release, Venables and Thompson are not permitted to contact each other or any member of James' family. They are also not allowed to enter the Liverpool area without the approval of probation officials.

And for the rest of their lives, the pair "are liable to be recalled to custody at any time if there is any evidence that they present a risk to the public," Blunkett wrote.

The murder shocked the nation, and the release of the teenagers has divided public opinion.

Venables and Thompson were initially sentenced to a minimum of eight years for the crime, described by the trial judge as an act of "unparalleled evil and barbarity."

The sentence was later increased to 15 years by former Home Secretary Michael Howard. But in October a judge restored the original sentence, saying it would not be beneficial for the two to be in the "corrosive atmosphere of an adult prison."

The reduction was prompted by a 1999 European Court of Human Rights ruling on an appeal from the teenagers. The court said it was wrong for a politician to be involved in setting sentences for juveniles.

[b]It also said Britain had violated the killers' rights to a fair hearing by trying them in an adult court.[/b]

Both teenagers came from poor families. Since their confinement, they have gained academic qualifications and taken part in activities ranging from [b]theater trips to white-water rafting.[/b]

The lawyer representing Thompson said his client "has changed as a person."

"He has accepted responsibility for his part, he has shown great and real remorse over a long period of time in a genuine way," lawyer Dominic Lloyd said.

The release of the killers is likely to spark a frenzy among Britain's tabloid newspapers to hunt them down even though a High Court injunction bans publication of their photos or their whereabouts for the rest of their lives.

If anybody wants to start a collection to have a contract put out on these two, I'm in.

with all the gun crime in Britain know maybe we can get lucky and some criminal will do it for us for free if i was in england i would os f*cking move. someeone needs to flush there cultral toilet and start over agien

Hell, I might not even charge for this one...

I thought they banned guns in England... so now the criminals use bricks and steel bars...

Put me in for $$$$'s on this one.  Those rotten bastards should be cut in half themselves.  If I were the father I would spend every waking moment looking for them and then kill them like dogs when I found them.

The parents will have plenty of help.  The tabloids and the Home Office already had a major row eariler this year with their success in uncovering the secret identities of relocated child molesters- one pedophile wound up in a hospital with his home burned after his picture, new id, and address were published.  The tabloids have become really good at investigative work- in spite of the fact there is no freedom of the press in England. Of course we help, CNN and AP pick the stuff up and then their is nothing the Home Office can do about it.  Looks like we will have round two of this battle now.

Just another Clintonese PC touchy feely for the criminals.

Paper denies 'breach' of Bulger order

A newspaper has denied knowingly breaching an injunction preventing the publication of details about James Bulger's killers.
The Manchester Evening News has been in talks with the Attorney General after it published information on the whereabouts of Robert Thompson and Jon Venables.



We would never knowingly breach an injunction

Manchester Evening News  
The details were published hours after the Parole Board ruled the two teenagers could be released from secure accommodation.

But there is support for the newspaper on Merseyside where James' mother Denise joined a small demonstration by truck-drivers on Saturday

Police said five trucks festooned with protest banners passed by the cemetery where the murdered toddler is buried before heading for Liverpool city centre.

Revenge attacks

A strict injunction is in place banning the release of any details about the boys, both now 18, that is likely to lead to their identification.

The move is aimed at preventing any possible revenge attacks.

In a statement on Friday the Home Office said: "The Attorney General is considering as a matter of urgency whether it would be appropriate to issue proceedings for contempt in light of this."

Lord Goldsmith's preliminary decision on the article in the Manchester Evening News could be announced as early as Monday.

Under the Contempt of Court Act, if proceedings go ahead the newspaper could face an unlimited fine and its editor could be jailed.

Internet test

Venables and Thompson were only 10 when they abducted two-year-old James from a Liverpool shopping centre before torturing and killing him.



James Bulger was battered to death on a railway line

There has been intense media and public interest in the case, and much anger at the news of their release.

Many legal observers are seeing the Manchester Evening News case as a "test" of the authorities' determination to protect the boys.

The injunction applies only to England and Wales - it does not cover Scotland or the foreign press.

BBC correspondent Nick Thatcher said: "Anyone can publish these sorts of details about the whereabouts, about the identities of these two young men on the internet in another country.

"They could be identified and recognised here by people viewing the internet in this country."



Most papers are obeying the injunction

Internet and media lawyer Mark Stephens said: "The problem that this case has always presented is 'jigsaw identification', the idea that confidential information evaporates because of each little piece of information that is published."

The case could prove to be a major test for the way such court rulings were dealt with by internet publishers, he said.

"For the first time the judiciary have had their ingenuity pitted against the entire internet community."

Life licences

Venables and Thompson, who have spent eight years in custody, are being released on life licences.

This means they will be under close observation by probation officers and subject to recall to prison in the event of wrongdoing.

No matter where they are, someone out there is waiting. There will be no stone unturned

Denise Fergus' statement  
They will be given new identities, and will not be able to return to Merseyside without permission from the authorities.

But the desire for retribution in the local community is said to be running high.

BBC Radio Merseyside received a call on Friday night suggesting "terrible things should be done".

And James's mother, Denise Fergus, said the murderers should not think they would remain anonymous indefinitely.

"I know that no matter where they are, someone out there is waiting. There will be no stone unturned," she said.

It is unclear whether the pair have yet been released but it is thought likely they will both be free by the end of the month.

The mother of one of James Bulger's killers says she fears her son will be killed by vigilantes.
Susan Venables, the mother of Jon, told the News of the World she believes her son could be murdered within four weeks.



"Our concern is for the safety of the public and the safety of these young men. That is as far as it goes"--David Blunkett  

The newspaper said it has decided reluctantly to obey a court injunction which bans newspapers from printing any information that might lead to the identification of Robert Thompson or Venables, both now aged 18.

But there are growing fears that it is unrealistic to expect that the pair's new identities will remain secret.

The Mail on Sunday reports that the Venables and Thompson themselves do not want to be released because of fears for their safety.

It says one of the killers broke down in tears before his Parole Board hearing last week.

No luxury

Meanwhile Home Secretary David Blunkett has insisted it was "simply not true" millions of pounds of public money were being spent on rehabilitating Venables and Thompson.