Jon Venables will remain in prison for at least two more years after missing the deadline to appeal the decision to stop him walking free.
Toddler James Bulger’s evil murderer, now 41, vowed to fight his failed freedom bid after he was told in December that releasing him ‘would not be safe for the protection of the public’.
He was even said to have ‘lost the plot’ and ‘went mad, ranting and raving’ after the parole board hearing, insisting that he was the victim of a miscarriage of justice.
Venables was given a deadline to contest the ruling but is understood to have been told by his lawyers that it was a ‘fruitless exercise’.
And now he’s missed the chance anyway, meaning he will be staying put for the foreseeable future.
It’s even possible that he might never be freed due to proposed changes to the parole reform bill which would see the justice secretary given the final say on whether dangerous sex reoffenders can be released.
‘This is the best way to start the year,’ said James’ mum Denise Fergus.
‘It is huge for us and for other families who could go through what we did if this person was released.
‘To hear that he has now missed the window in which he can appeal, gives us our life back for another two years at least knowing nothing he can do can affect our life or that of others.
‘It allows us space to breathe and to focus on the happiness in our lives.’
Her two-year-old son was abducted, tortured and murdered by Venables and Robert Thompson, who were both aged 10 at the time, in Bootle, Merseyside, in February 1993.
They were convicted later that year and sentenced to a minimum of eight years in prison.
Both killers were released from prison on a life licence in June 2001 and handed new identities and lifelong anonymity after a parole board determined they were no longer a threat to public safety.
Thompson is now thought to be in a homosexual relationship with a man who knows his true identity and is living somewhere in the north west.
But Venables found himself behind bars again in 2010 after he was found guilty of possessing pornographic images of children.
He was released three years later but recalled to prison in 2017 for again being caught with indecent images of children and has remained in jail ever since.
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His previous parole bid in 2020 was also turned down after he’d served his minimum 40-month sentence.
Denise, who is campaigning for an inquiry into the death of her son, told the Mirror: ‘Two years now gives this government a chance to put their money where their mouth is and get this bill through.’
She also sealed a separate victory this week in her battle to take down disgusting videos depicting AI simulations of her son describing his death.
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