James Bulger's killer Jon Venables is jailed for two years for serial child porn offences

JON Venables, one of the killers of toddler James Bulger, was yesterday jailed for two years after admitting downloading and distributing child pornography.

• Denise Fergus, mother of James Bulger, has issued statement saying jailing Jon Venables for two years was 'not enough'. Picture: PA

The sentence was immediately criticised by the murdered toddler's family, with James's mother Denise Fergus saying it was "simply not enough". She had travelled to the court to hear Venables admit the charges.

Venables, 27, appeared by videolink at London's Old Bailey and spoke only to confirm his name and plead guilty to three charges.

The first involved downloading 57 pornographic pictures of youngsters on to his computer between February last year and February this year.

The second involved distributing indecent photographs of children also in February, while a third involved distributing 42 images in February 2008.

The court heard he pretended to be a 35-year-old woman when he discussed the abuse of children online with another man.

It was the first time Venables had appeared in court since being recalled to prison in February.

After sentencing, in a statement from his solicitor, John Gibson, Venables said he had thought about James's death "every day" since 1993 and apologised for his actions.

Venables and friend Robert Thompson were ten in February 1993 when they abducted two-year-old James from a Liverpool shopping centre and murdered him. After being found guilty of murder in an adult court, they spent eight years in secure children's homes until being released on licence in 2001 with new identities.

Since his release, Venables had been arrested at least twice, once for a drunken fight after he was accused of assaulting a man's girlfriend and the second for cocaine possession, the court heard.

The images on his computer were discovered when he left it at a police station amid fears his true identity had been uncovered. Venables feared his secret was out, called a probation officer. He was told to gather his belongings in preparation to leave. When the officer arrived, he was trying to delete files from his computer and remove the hard drive.

Venables used peer-to-peer computer software to download the video images in February, the court heard. Louis Mably, prosecuting, said the videos showed girls, aged about eight, being raped. He said the computer's web history "indicated the defendant had an extensive history of searching for and downloading indecent images of children using the internet". Other images involved children as young as two.

In a statement to police, Venables said he considered his reaction to child porn as "breaking the last taboo".But, asked about a video involving an eight-year-old girl, Venables said he had "no intention" of having sex with a girl of that age.

One charge related to distributing child porn to Leslie Blanchard, a convicted paedophile from Chelmsford, Essex, in 2008.

Venables, in messages to Blanchard, claimed to be a 35-year-old married woman called Dawn who abused her eight-year-old daughter. Mably said Venables wanted Blanchard to send images of abuse to him.

When Thompson and Venables were first released, an injunction prevented their new names being made public. In March, the Ministry of Justice issued a statement revealing that Venables had been recalled to prison after a "breach of licence conditions". For almost four months, the then justice secretary, Jack Straw, refused to reveal why Venables had been recalled, saying only he was suspected of an "extremely serious offence". To say more could endanger Venables' right to a fair trial, he added.

Venables is likely to remain in prison beyond the term given yesterday. Because he was out on a life licence for the Bulger murder, Venables will have to convince the parole board it is safe to release him.

He could remain in jail for the rest of his life, but experts suggest that is unlikely.

'You'd almost think he wanted to be caught'

Jon Venables was on a "self-destruct mission" after failing to cope with the anonymity of normal life, a leading psychiatrist has claimed.

Years behind bars and a history of child neglect may have prompted him to reoffend in an act of "antisocial, arrogant defiance", said Professor Tom Fahy of King's College London.

Authorities who allowed his release should not be blamed for his return to crime, Prof Fahy added.

"Venables took extreme risk in the crimes he committed," the professor said.

"One would almost think he was trying to get caught.

"I do not know if he was a victim of sexual abuse but the fact that he was involved in a very grisly and sadistic murder at a very young age is a very poor sign in terms of his long-term welfare. It would carry a very high risk of reoffending. Venables did have a high amount of support so it was quite a surprise to see him reoffend."

Prof Fahy continued: "It is very difficult to comment on the reason for people's sexual orientation but Venables appeared to have a history of child neglect.

"This, combined with sadistic experiences from a very young age, might have had a knock-on effect."