James Bulger’s father calls private parole hearing for killer an ‘insult’

The father of James Bulger has expressed fury after a Parole Board decided that the parole hearing for Jon Venables would be conducted in private. Venables, who tortured and murdered the two-year-old child 23 years ago, had a previous bid for freedom rejected in 2023. The decision to keep the proceedings private, despite requests for a public hearing, has been described by the victim's father as an insult during the killer's latest attempt to secure release.