James Bulger Murderer Jon Venables Reportedly Joins an Online Dating Site

Child killer Jon Venables has joined an online dating Web site, it has been claimed. According to a report, Venables, who was just 10 years old when he and friend Robert Thompson tortured and murdered 2-year-old James Bulger in Liverpool, England in 1993, is meeting women online using his new identity.

The Sunday Mirror reports that Venables signed up on the unnamed Web site under a new name. It is not clear if he used the identity given to him in 2001 after he was released from prison, or if he used an online persona. He apparently pays a monthly fee to be featured on the site and be able to exchange messages and photographs with women.

As he is using a different identity, the women he has contacted have no idea he was Bulger’s murderer. Venables said in his profile that his best quality is his sense of humour and that he loves music and football. The paper refuses to name the dating site for legal reasons, though revealed that it many young single and divorced mothers are among its users.

Child protection expert Mark Williams-Thomas, together with the Sunday Mirror, found out about Venables’ dating profile. He said Venables should have not been allowed to roam the Internet. “The public will be disgusted and very worried to find out that he is repeating some of this behaviour again,” he said.

Bulger’s mother, Denise Fergus, also expressed her disgust over the report, saying the Parole Board should enforce a system where they can supervise Venables better.

“It’s quite disgusting that a child murderer and paedophile can have access to online dating Web sites,” she told the Daily Mail. “I feel so sorry for the girls and women who do not know who they’re chatting to. He’s capable of anything.”

The Murder of James Bulger

Venables and Thompson were both just 10 years old when they decided to abduct a young boy in a shopping mall. Bulger, 2, was accompanying his mother at the New Strand Shopping Centre when he was lured by the two older boys to come with them. His mother was momentarily distracted when Bulger went with Venables and Thompson.

The two boys then led him out of the mall and to an abandoned railway station, where they began torturing Bulger. The hapless child, called Jamie by the press, suffered over 40 injuries from the hands of Venables and Thompson. They laid him across the railway tracks to make his death appear a train accident. Bulger’s severed body was discovered on February 14, two days after the horrific crime.

Venables and Thompson were identified through the security cam in the mall. They were arrested and put into trial. Both at just 11 years old at the time of their conviction in November 1993, the boys became the youngest convicted murderers in England. The judge in their case recommended a minimum of eight years imprisonment for both. They were released in 2001, and were given new identities and were moved to new locations. This was to protect them from public retribution.

Re-arrest of Venables

It was discovered in March 2010 that Venables had been imprisoned again for violating the terms of his release. The Ministry of Justice did not reveal the violation, though in June the same year, Venables was charged with possession and distribution of indecent images of children. He was reportedly given a new identity following a security breach. He was released from prison in September 2013.