Jack Straw refused to say today why one of the killers of James Bulger has been sent back to jail.

As pressure grew for more information in the case of Jon Venables, the Justice Secretary insisted that it was in the public interest to withhold details of the breach of the terms of his release that prompted the recall.

His stance came as speculation grew on the issue and amid growing calls from those close to the case for greater transparency.

Venables, now 27, was 10 when he and Robert Thompson abducted the two-year-old from a shopping centre in Bootle and battered him to death on a railway line in 1993.
The pair were controversially freed with new names, birth certificates and national insurance numbers in 2001, at the age of 18, having spent their jail sentences in separate secure units without setting foot in a young offender institution or an adult jail.

After his release Venables is reported to have been allowed to join the Army. Unconfirmed reports suggested that he was now a born-again Christian, had settled down and had plans to marry. Thompson is said to be living with a gay partner, after attending art school.

Both must stay in regular touch with senior probation officers who are sworn to secrecy about their conduct.

Venables was recalled to prison last week after breaching the terms of his release from prison, the Ministry of Justice confirmed yesterday.

Mr Straw said: "I have no interest in gratuitously or unnecessarily withholding information, but there are good reasons to withhold it at the moment and that is in the public interest.

"So I fully understand the frustration that people feel, but the reassurance for the Bulger family and the public is that this system has worked. He was not at liberty, he was on life licence subject to recall, and he has been recalled."

Detective Albert Kirby, who headed the Bulger investigation, said there “must have been a build-up of incidents” for the action to have been taken and called for the Government to release precise details of why Venables was recalled.

He told Sky News: “I think the statement that came out last night actually raises more questions than it answers. They wouldn’t – using football parlance – have given him a red card and go to prison for one infringement.

“It would help to clarify and put this to rest once and for all if the public did have some indication of what it is he has done. Not where he is, or details like that, but the reason why his probation has been revoked and he is back inside.

“It’s going to be asking the questions why is he there and did the authorities fail in making the assessments of his suitability to come back into society?”

James Bulger's mother said Jon Venables was “where he belongs” in her first reaction to news of his return to custody.

Family members said that Mrs Fergus had not been told how Venables had breached his parole.

Among the conditions placed on Venables and Thompson when they were released were a ban on contacting each other or any member of the Bulger family and a prohibition on returning to Merseyside without written consent from their probation officers.

They were told that they could be sent to an adult prison if their behaviour deteriorated or they started using drugs and that if they were convicted of another crime they could face a life sentence.

Speculation is rife about why Venables has been recalled. Michael Wolkind QC, a barrister in criminal law, said that the Ministry of Justice would not lightly have returned Venables to custody, running the risk that his cover would be blown in prison.

"To go to all the trouble of building him a new identity and a new life, there must be a significant chance it was serious," said Mr Wolkind.

Alan Johnson, the Home Secretary, backed the public’s right to know the facts of the case but said more details would be released.

He added: “I believe the public do have a right to know and I believe they will know all the facts in due course."

Venables will appear before a hearing of the Parole Board to consider the reason for recall. This is expected to happen within 28 days of his recall last week.

The hearing, before a three-person panel including a judge, will rule whether he should stay in prison or be released.
The outcome of such hearings is not usually made public.

But a spokesman for the Parole Board said it was likely the result would be released because of the high-profile nature of the case.

James Bulger's battered body was found by children playing on a railway line 200 yards from Walton Lane police station, Liverpool, and more than two miles from the Strand shopping centre where he was led away by his killers.

Both murderers were given compulsory life sentences for the murder and remain on licence for the rest of their lives.
Unconfirmed reports suggest that Venables has been involved in several violent incidents, including in December 2007 when he was allegedly stabbed after he accused another man of chatting up his girlfriend.

Laurence Lee, Venables’s solicitor at the time of the crime, said he was shocked. He said: “If I were a betting man and someone said to me, ‘One of the two killers of Jamie Bulger had been arrested and returned to prison’, I would have put a lot of money on it not being Jon because he was by unanimous agreement the lesser evil.”

FROM BOYHOOD TO JAIL

Feb 13, 1993 James Bulger, 2, goes missing while out with his mother in a shopping precinct in Liverpool

Feb 14 His body is found next to a railway line

Feb 20 Jon Venables and Robert Thompson, both 10, are charged with his murder

Nov 24 Venables and Thompson are sentenced to eight years in prison after trial at Preston Crown Court. The Lord Chief Justice, Lord Taylor of Gosforth, increases the sentence to ten years but an attempt by Michael Howard, then Home Secretary, to extend it by a further five years is vetoed

March 1999 European Commission on Human Rights decides that the boys were denied a fair trial

Jan 8, 2001 Venables and Thompson are granted lifelong anonymity

June 22, 2001 The Parole Board agrees to release the 18-year-olds on lifelong licences. Their identities are changed

April 2007 It is revealed that the Government has spent £13,000 preventing overseas magazines from revealing the killers’ new identities

March 16, 2008 18 red balloons are released at Kirkdale Cemetery to mark what would have been James Bulger’s 18th birthday

March 2, 2010 Department of Justice says that Venables is back in prison after breaching terms of his release

Source:The Times