Growing demands for more information on Bulger killer

The British Government tonight faced growing demands to release more information about Jon Venables’s return to prison – led by victims’ rights champion Helen Newlove.

Mrs Newlove, whose husband Garry was kicked to death by a gang of yobs outside their home in Warrington in 2007, said it was cruel not to tell James Bulger’s parents the full details.

She urged the British Prime Minister to think again after he and Justice Secretary Jack Straw declared the new allegations faced by the little boy’s murderer must remain secret.

Mrs Newlove said: “It is another case of the victims not coming into it and the criminals being protected.

“James’s poor mother and father have to relive what’s happened every day.

“What Jack Straw has said is ludicrous. Venables has breached his parole and should be staying in jail.

“Venables and Thompson have been given everything on a plate and now we’re not even allowed to know the circumstances surrounding this – it is a disgrace.

“Just telling the parents Venables was recalled is breadcrumbs – it is cruel not telling them more.

“It would terrify me to think he has been back to Merseyside. If you are out shopping and bump into that person it would make you physically sick and you don’t know what actions you would take.”

Venables, 27, was taken back to prison more than a week ago after reportedly fighting with a work colleague and developing a drug problem.

In 1993 he and Robert Thompson, both just 10 at the time, led two-year-old James from a Liverpool shopping centre on a two-mile walk to his death.

They battered the little boy and left his body on a railway track for a train to cut it in two.

In 2001 they were released from life sentences and given new identities protected by an anonymity order.

Yesterday Home Secretary Alan Johnson said the public had a right to know what new allegations Venables faced.

But he was apparently slapped down by the Prime Minister today who maintained that no details would be released.

Tonight pressure was mounting on the Government to change its stance after a flurry of charities and opposition politicians joined Mrs Newlove in demanding greater rights and better treatment for James’s family.

James’s mother Mrs Denise Fergus and her ex-husband only found out about Venables’s recall hours before news broke in the media.

Today in the Commons the Tories also demanded more details be disclosed claiming the information was in the public interest.

Shadow Commons leader Sir George Young asked Harriet Harman: “Do you agree with me and apparently the Home Secretary that unless there are very good reasons for keeping this information secret, it is in the public interest to know why Jon Venables has been sent back to prison?”

The Commons leader replied: “The question is the matter of the court order requiring anonymity, and I think the processes around that have got to be in compliance with the court order, which required that his identity should remain secret.”

A spokesman for Victim Support, Britain’s biggest victims of crime charity, said: “It is a severe example of a general problem that affects a lot of victims of crime – which is not being given information about what is going on.

“We know it is very frustrating for most victims of crime and quite upsetting for many of them to feel out of the loop in this way.”

Lyn Costello from Mothers Against Murder said: “I think the family has a right to know, but not necessarily the press and the public.

“Of course the family should be told because it adds to their stress.

“They are told it does not concern them, but of course it does – the original charge was for murdering their child.”

Matthew Elliott, chief executive of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said: “Taxpayers and the public in general have a right to know exactly why Venables has been returned to prison.

“This is a question of public safety and taxpayer value, given that a fortune has been spent on a new identity which has now been wrecked.

“Serious questions must be answered about the failings in the rehabilitation and probation programme.

“There have been massive costs and a serious failure here and the public have a right to know the details.”