John Venables AKA….? one of two boys who were convicted of killing toddler James Bulger when just aged ten years old, themselves, has been out in the community on licence for about 9 years. These men, as that is now what they are, are 27 years old. There would have been all the usual parole licence conditions and undoubtedly a few additional ones. His mate, of a similar age would, like him, have been living in the community for a similar length of time. We haven’t heard anything about him, so it is probably reasonable to assume that he is abiding by the regulations under which he has his relative freedom. Note, I use the qualifying term ‘relative freedom’. The Media have been pushing hard to be informed of the reasons for the recall into custody.
Because of the kind of crime committed, these two young men will be required to fulfil the terms of any parole licence, without fail. A missing of a supervision session without good reason – probably needing evidence – not complying with an instruction about travel, visits and contacts elsewhere, not informing the probation service of changes of address, details of whom they associate and live with, their work and so on, perhaps even some kind of curfew order, would all have to be strictly adhered to. Keeping on the right side of law and order within tight parameters is an over-arching requirement.
It is not usual to publicize reasons for recall. Of course, if there is the possibility of some legal proceeding pending, it would be inappropriate to divulge that information into the public domain. Venables AKA…? will have to answer to a parole board enquiry, also, it is highly likely that lawyers for all parties will be pouring over attendant issues. None of the principles to obtain an unbiased hearing of any kind should be compromised by feeding the curiosity of the media.
RANDOM THOUGHTS 