James Bulger Killer Charged Over Indecent Images of Children

Jon Venables, 10 years of age, poses for a mugshot for British authorities in the United Kingdom Feb. 20, 1993. Both Venables and Robert Thompson were 10 years-old when they tortured and killed 2 year-old James Bulger in Bootle, England. Photo Courtesy of BWP Media via Getty Images

Jon Venables, one of the killers of the toddler James Bulger, has been charged over child abuse images, it has emerged

Venables, now 35, will be tried in private at an unnamed court, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said.

Venables was recalled to prison last November after he was allegedly caught with indecent images of children on his computer.

“The man formerly known as Jon Venables has been charged with offences relating to indecent images of children and will appear in the Crown Court,” said the CPS in an email on Friday afternoon, Jan. 5.

“In order that justice can be done, no further details are being released at this stage and the proceedings are subject to reporting restrictions.”

Toddler James Bulger was two years old when he was murdered in Liverpool in 1993. Getty images

Venables and his school friend Robert Thompson were both 10 years old when they murdered James in 1993. The young boys tortured and killed the toddler in Bootle, Merseyside. His battered body was found by a railway line.

The pair spent eight years behind bars before being released on parole in 2001 with new identities and were granted lifelong anonymity.

Robert Thompson poses for a mugshot for British authorities when he was 10 years old on Feb. 20, 1993. Both Thompson and Jon Venables were 10 years old when they tortured and killed 2-year-old James Bulger in Bootle, England. BWP Media via Getty Images

A surveillance camera shows the abduction of two-year-old James Bulger from the Bootle Strand shopping mall near Liverpool, England on Feb. 12, 1993, at 3:42 p.m. Bulger holds the hand of Jon Venables, one of two ten-year-old boys later convicted of his torture and murder. BWP Media via Getty Images

Mother of murdered toddler James Bulger, Denise Fergus, and husband Stuart Fergus leave the Old Bailey in London on July 23, 2010. Dan Kitwood/Getty Images

Following Venables’ recall to prison in November, the Attorney General’s office investigated a complaint that his identity had been revealed on social media.

In 2013, two men received 9-month sentences after posting images online that they claimed were Venables and Thompson. Breaking the injunction on identifying either of the men carries a punishment of up to two years in prison.

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