The heartbroken father of murdered toddler James Bulger has wept as he begged parole chiefs to keep one of the toddler’s killers behind bars.
Ralph Bulger‘s life was ‘destroyed’ 30 years ago when young James, two, was abducted from a shopping centre in Merseyside by Jon Venables and Robert Thompson on February 12 1993.
Venables has a parole hearing scheduled for next month, and could be free by Christmas. But speaking to TalkTV on Monday, Mr Bulger tearily begged the government to keep the killer behind bars, adding that otherwise ‘the justice system has failed.’
Mr Bulger, who once sought to challenge a court order granting Venables lifetime anonymity, told Jeremy Kyle and Nicola Thorp that ‘every child is at risk’ if the ‘ticking time bomb’ killer is ever allowed to walk free.
Venables has been imprisoned twice since being freed for the killing – currently languishing in jail after being recalled on charges of possessing indecent images of children in 2017, for which he was later convicted.
Thompson and Venables tortured two-year-old James (pictured). The brutal attack on the innocent toddler included throwing paint in his eye, pelting him with stones and bricks and dropping an iron bar on his head
Jon Venables (pictured) could be out by Christmas, as his parole hearing is scheduled for November 14 and 15 of this year
Robert Thompson is not believed to have reoffended since he was released from prison in 2001
It is the second time he has been convicted of possessing child pornography after being convicted in 2010, and has spent twice his 40 month sentence behind cars after his 2020 bid for freedom was denied.
But Venables will try again for release during a two day hearing on November 14 and 15.
Mr Bulger said of the killer’s upcoming hearing: ‘I think you’ve got to do everything you can to try and keep him behind bars, because he’s been a danger from day one.
‘He’s reoffended. To me, I think he enjoys what he’s doing. He’s a ticking time bomb, just waiting to go off, in my opinion.’
He continued: ‘Every child in my opinion, is at risk while he’s out.’
James was just two years old when he was murdered by Thompson and Venables after being snatched from the Bootle Strand shopping centre.
The pair were seen by 38 people, including two who questioned if James was alright, as he had a bump on his head and was crying.
But Venables and Thompson, who were both 10 at the time, went on to brutally torture the youngster – throwing paint in his eye, pelting him with stones and bricks and dropping an iron bar on his head.
They then left his broken body on a railway line in a twisted bid to conceal their crimes.
The pair’s names and photographs were released after they were convicted – a rare exception for cases involving children.
But upon release they were given new identities under a witness protection-style scheme that saw them given new passports, national insurance numbers and even falsified birth certificates.
Mr Bulger wiped away tears as he told TalkTV that his son’s death at the hands of Venables and Thompson ‘destroyed him’. He implored justice chiefs to ‘keep (Venables) in’ jail
The now infamous image of James Bulger being led away from the Bootle Strand shopping centre on February 12 1993 by Jon Venables and Robert Thompson
A source told the Mail that James’s mother Denise Fergus, 54, had not been informed of the parole hearing date before it appeared in the media. ‘She’s shellshocked,’ they said. Pictured above is James Bulger
James’ mother Denise Fergus, 55, has been left ‘shellshocked’ after it a parole hearing deciding Venables potential release has been revealed to be taking place this November
A worldwide ban remains in place, preventing the media from identifying either Venables or Thompson by their new identities.
Thompson is not believed to have reoffended since he was released from prison in 2001. But Mr Bulger has sought to have Venables’ lifetime anonymity order lifted after the killer reoffended several times, arguing that the order was only imposed because the pair had been ‘rehabilitated’.
But a judge refused his bid in 2019, saying that the order was preventing Venables from being ‘put to death’ by vigilantes.
Pausing at times as his voice catches, and wiping away tears, Mr Bulger told Talk TV the killing had ‘destroyed him’, and that ‘keep(ing) him in’ jail would give him peace.
He added of the killing: ‘You sort of have to keep it back. It’s hard, but it’s something I find if I keep my head into work, those memories don’t come flooding back, what happened.
‘(I) just go day by day. You’ve just got to go one foot in front of the other and just do the best you can.’
And asked why he continues to fight, Mr Bulger said: ‘That’s for James and to make sure it doesn’t really happen again – if I can do anything to prevent it happening again, I’ll do what I can.
‘I’m doing this for the families, other lives, so the piles get that big you’ve got to keep him in’, adding of his frustration with the parole board, ‘I’ve been fighting this for 30 years and you just get nowhere with them.’
On Venables, Ralph continued: ‘They can’t be rehabilitated. They’ve spent millions on him and that’s their little project that went wrong, know what I mean?
‘And its proved to have gone wrong throughout the years, like the ways he’s reoffended. He likes what he does, he likes it.
‘The whole top and bottom of it, he wants to get another kid. That’s the way I feel deeply.’
TalkTV host Jeremy Kyle urged justice secretary Alex Chalk to keep Venables locked up, adding: ‘I’d like somebody…to explain (why) the father of that victim needs to come on a television programme to prove…that man should stay behind bars.’
Venables was originally sentenced to imprisonment at ‘Her Majesty’s pleasure’ – in essence, indefinitely.
Kyle concluded the interview by asking Mr Bulger: ‘Should life mean life?’
Ralph replied: ‘Yes. Definitely. For something like that.’
Mr Bulger’s calls for Venables to stay locked up come after James’ mother, Denise Fergus, was said to be ‘shellshocked’ at the news of his latest parole hearing.
She said previously: ‘I have no doubt he would kill another child if he is released.’
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