Review of Venables’ supervision

Police and probation supervision of Jon Venables after his release from custody in 2001 will be reviewed by the Ministry of Justice following his conviction for downloading and distributing indecent images of children last week.

Venables was released from prison after serving an eight-year sentence for his part in the murder of two-year-old James Bulger. Now serving a two-year prison sentence for downloading and distributing indecent images of children, it has emerged Venables was placed under curfew on his release from prison when he was arrested for a drunken fight in 2008. Later that year, Venables was also cautioned when found in possession of cannabis. The review will seek to establish whether the appropriate action was taken in each of these cases.

Former Home Office permanent secretary Sir David Omand will conduct the inquiry, which is expected to take three months.