The dad of murdered Merseyside toddler James Bulger today said one of his killers should be kept on an army base if he is freed by a parole board.
The idea was put forward by Ralph Bulger in a statement to a hearing held to consider the release of Jon Venables.
Mr Bulger’s solicitor Robin Makin said accommodation on a secure government facility was the only way Venables could safely be given a measure of freedom.
Both Mr Bulger and James’s mum Denise Fergus, who gave evidence separately this morning day, urged the board not to free Venables, now 30.
Their statements were made through a two-way video link, with Mr Bulger addressing the panel from a room at Liverpool crown court at 2pm.
Speaking outside the court, Mr Makin said the army base suggestion was a way to ensure the safety of both the public and Venables, who was recalled to prison in 2010 after admitting downloading and distributing indecent images of children.
VIDEO: Denise Fergus urges probation bosses to block release of Jon Venables
He said: “The best we can think of, if the parole board decides he has been rehabilitated, is for him to effectively be subject to some form of house arrest, possibly on a secure government facility such as an army base.”
Mr Makin described Venables's release in 2001 as a “liberal experiment” which had failed, and said Mr Bulger and his family had been let down by the criminal justice system.
He added: “There is no real support for Ralph and his family.”
Both Mr Bulger and Mrs Fergus, who gave her evidence from the Merseyside Probation Service offices in Waterloo, said they believed Venables represented a danger to society and should not be given anonymity again.
Mrs Fergus, who entered the building to applause and cries of “go on Denise” from members of the public, said she was “more than happy” that her evidence would be considered in full by the board.
She called for claims about Venables, including reports he had a relationship with a worker at a secure children’s home where he was held during his original sentence, to be looked at.
The 45-year-old added: “It has been very difficult for me to come here today, but it is my choice and I have always said if there was a fight there to do for James, I would do it.”
Mr Bulger said: “I just hope they properly look in to it and keep him in. I think they’d be stupid if they let him out.”
It is not known when the board, which sat at an undisclosed location, will make its decision.
Solicitor Sean Sexton, who has worked on behalf of Mrs Fergus since the two-year-old’s 1993 murder, attended the hearing along with her husband Stuart Fergus.
He said: “Denise believes the initial parole board hearing in 2001 was inadequate.
“There was a rush to declare Venables rehabilitated because so much had been invested in him by those supervising him.
“Denise believes an inconvenient truth was swept under the carpet.”
Mr Makin said: “We said to the parole board that we felt it would be reckless of them to try another liberal experiment in the uncharted territory of possibly giving him a second identity.
“Ralph and his family don’t want to feel that they have let anybody down and if something happened, if somebody was injured or murdered because they didn’t make proper representations, then that would be an added burden which they really couldn’t live with.
“We certainly hope the parole board has the good sense not to release Jon Venables back into open society without adequate safeguards.”
