The father of murdered toddler James Bulger has called for an up-to-date image of his son's killer to be made publicly available.
Ralph Bulger, 51, has said that Jon Venables should be stripped of his anonymity after the child killer returned to jail following child abuse images being found on his computer.
Ralph Bulger, father of murdered James Bulger. Credit: PA
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Bulger also said that the now 35-year-old Venables should receive an adult life sentence for the part he played in his two-year-old son's murder in 1993.
"If people saw a photo of him as the adult monster he truly is they would have a very different perception of the person committing the crimes, instead of a picture of so-called childhood innocence," Bulger said in an interview with the Sunday People.
He stated his belief that his son's killer should be treated 'no differently' to other child killers. He also slammed a decision to spend £5m ($6.7m) on trying to rehabilitate Venables and on protecting the identity of him and his co-killer, Robert Thompson.
Bulger added that efforts by authorities to rehabilitate Venables have failed because he has broken the law again, so he should lose his privilege of anonymity.
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He said: "You only have to look at the manner in which they tortured my son before killing him to know this is true but no one wanted to hear it or believe it because Thompson and Venables were just ten. Now they're not."
Venables and Thompson were ten years old when they killed and tortured two-year-old James in 1993, after abducting him from a shopping centre in Bootle, Liverpool.
James' body was eventually found on a railway line two days later.
Credit: PA Images
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Venables and Thompson were given life sentences in prison for their crime but were released with new identities after serving eight years in jail.
While Thompson has not re-offended since his release, Venables found himself back behind bars in 2010 for breaking the conditions of his release.
It emerged that Venables had downloaded and distributed over 100 images of child abuse - some involving children as young as two. Venables has now been recalled to prison for a second time after more child abuse images were recently discovered on his computer.
Bulger's father has said that, in light of Venables' recent offenses, the authorities must look again at his son's murder. He has suggested that the killing may now have been sexually motivated.
Featured Image Credit: PA ImagesTopics: Liverpool, james bulger, UK News, News, jon venables, Murder