Indeed to the bold. Where have the principles gone?

Isnt Brown one of the few principled ones (of any note) around?

I don't know about him, but Mrs Bram was out in London today with some friends, one of whom is a prison officer. Apparently there have been several instances of 27 year old admissions around the right time being beaten up on the off-chance that they might be him.

And someone at large has been outed on facebook.

If I were a paediatrician, I would go away for a while

Fine. I know when I'm not wanted around these parts. So long!

back off topic mrs t. had her priciples, they are not always a good thing

kind of back on topic though

it is a great shame that too many things these days are governed by poor set in stone rules, rather than those in a position of power using common sense.

this seems to be the reason venables was released.

andy

For your own safety run, if your are a paedo(trician).

unfortunately those who feel that career criminals have some code of conduct that is somehow better and more decent than society in general are of course wrong clearly the criminals were perfectly happy to beat up anyone who vaguely fitted venables description in order to gain the kudos and accolade that goes with it inside

exactly why mob rule shouldn't be tolerated reminds me of the story of the celtic fans who beat up a guy in a blue top only to find to late he had a celtic top on underneath his hoodie (or whatever it was).

andy

If true then that's very sad.

If Venables & Thompson wouldn't have been let out, none of this would have happened.

You don't think that the morally righteous mob would have been waiting for them years ago?

The other is totally clean, we can only assume.

I do not normally pick up peoples use of English, but that is bad

decisions, decisions...............

repercussions, repercussions................

that is the reality of things that policy makers should consider more fully.

andy

The Govt/media only reacted because it was on the Internet.

...because one of them re-offended....because he shouldn't have been let out.

(I am the angry mob )

With his new identity what are the chances of him still being 27? he ll be 24 or 31, but if your a scouser of around that age who has recently been imprisoned you'd probably have good reason to be nervous

That is one argument for stripping JV of his anonymity - it would avoid innocent people getting lynched. (Or those innocent of being JV, at any rate.)

Prison and throw away the key, simple

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/7906539/James-Bulger-killer-Jon-Venables-jailed-for-two-years-for-downloading-child-pornography.html

I was going to say this s.cum is now back where he belongs. But actually he belongs dangling on the end of a rope.

At least he's out of the road for a bit - let's be grateful for small mercies.

Just wonder how much money has been spent/wasted (delete where applicable) protecting his identity

The problem with this situation is that people are now saying rehabilitation doesn't work but honestly, what chance has Venables got when he is continually looking over his shoulder in fear of being lynched? The general public fulfil their own prophesy that it doesn't work.

If you rewind the clock 20 years to before James Bulger was killed, Venables himself would no doubt have been considered a victim, such was his childhood. Kids who are subjected to abuse and neglect basically learn that they are not worthy of being loved and so experience severe abandonment, which is emotionally devastating and the root of much mental illness, substance abuse and deviant behaviour.

The only way anyone could ever truly recover from that is to experience the love and acceptance they never had. And in our society there is no way that can ever happen for Venables because he has to live as not himself, which is total abandonment! The whole thing is a tragic waste of life on many levels and it is society's problem.

The thing I have found most bizarre is learning that under the terms of his licence, if Venables forms "a close relationship" he is obliged to reveal his true identity.

What is the point/logic of an expensive new identity if he is meant to sit up in bed and say "Oh by the way, I'm actually Jon Venables and I killed Jamie Bulger"

If the idea is for as few people as possible to know, this makes no sense. It's almost an unofficial sentence to never be allowed a proper relationship. I don't recall that being a feature of our justice system.

eff Tories

How can you live in such a cartoon world? I'd expect this bollocks from white-van-man-dahn-the-pub-stands-ta-reason-dunnit pikeys .....................

There are plenty of people out there who are a far bigger threat to society than Venables. What shall we do with them? Mass random hangings in Trafalgar Square? Get a great deal to do pay per view on Sky I reckon?

Heh, why not? After all anything goes to reduce the national deficit right?

Yes it just shows what an impossible situation he and the authorities are now in. On the one hand you can see how a woman wouldn't be best pleased to have his kids not knowing his history, but if he reveals his true identity to a girlfriend she could just decide to blow his whole cover with his friends/employer, whoever.

He can never live a normal life so it should be hardly surprising if his behaviour is deviant.

The majority of people would agree with Billy Whiz, Groomyd. So which people are a bigger threat than Venables ? How many other child killers are out there who have viewed some of the most disturbing child porn available. Probably not that many...

Your "white-van-dahn-the-pub" analogy is just taking a swipe at normal working class people. It's what some working class people do, drive white vans, to make ends meet. You dismiss them all in one go. In fact, it's these working classs who should be voting Labour but their party has been infiltrated by a bunch of champagne swigging prawn sandwich eating PC lefty socilialist "elite" who have lost complete touch with the real world. Must be something wrong, because a lot of the working class voted for a bunch of Old Etonians born with silver spoons in their mouths... but hey...you keep on thinking that little cutie Mr Venables is a nice lad who is completely free to live his life

That is a statement that is obviously total speculation. And, of course, as far as I am aware there is only one other child killer who is in the same set of circumstances as Venables, and that is Thompson.

The point is that this is not a black and white situation but most people (white van man etc.) are not comfortable with that. It's much easier to just say these people are evil, hang them or throw away the key. Once you dispense with that ridiculously blinkered notion, you get into the realms of all of us (as 'society') actually being part of the problem. And people don't like that.

The point I made is that it is the attitude of the general public that actually prevents his rehabilitation, so a complete catch-22.

Its clear cut to me. Two children brutally and savagely murdered a toddler. They are evil. At the very minimum, they should have been detained for life.

Don't be fooled into thinking rehabilitation works with murderers. Petty criminals maybe, but not child killers.

I sympathize to some extent Red Eye, and I don't know enough about Venables to be absolutely certain, but what realistically is the chance of rehabilitating someone like him? What is the chance of rehabilitating anyone who isn't committed to changing their life and has the life skills and family support to pull it off, which he surely does not have. He is almost surely a psychopath and there is reams of research to show you can't turn those people around. Treatment only makes them better con men. They are relentlessly anti-social liars with no empathy and are usually violent. What other kind of human could have done what he did? How could any decent person not hate themselves forever for doing what he did? This isn't some fairy tale. Time to focus on trying to save some of the next batch of hardass street kids. This one has used up all his chances. I don't blame great white sharks for being what their nature makes them, but I'm also not willing to let them swim in the neighbourhood pool. Don't kill him, don't beat him, but don't let him loose either. Maybe he has had a crap life. No doubt he has. But whoever decided to put him and Thompson back on the street was a Hell of an optimist. Let's just be glad he didn't kill anyone when he was out there. As far as we know.

Despite his horrific crime, Venables was released after just 8 years and given a second chance to live as normal a life as possible complete with a new identity for his own protection. While many people would feel this was way too lenient this is what our 'society' chose to do.

And what did Venables choose to do with this second chance (a second chance that James Bulger never got BTW)? Download extreme child porn.

How many more chances of rehabilitation does he deserve?

Interesting points, Pouzar, but I don't think it's that black and white. There was a very similar case in Norway where a child was killed by two children, they were released without charge and are now living, as far as I know, relatively normal lives. As Red Eye points out, you can do that if society goes along with it, if there isn't this bloodlust based on the warped belief that because they're children, they're somehow more evil and less capable of rehabilitation than adults. As it is, Venables' and Thompson's identities had to be hidden, and they were placed in this almost impossible situation.

Obviously a case like this raises huge questions for any society, personally I'd far rather live in the society where someone was not forever branded and punished (or, haven forbid, strung up) for something that they did when they were 10 years old, however appalling that thing may have been.

TBH I dont care what other country's like Sweden do.

I for one would rather he was kept under lock & key for life but I dont agree with vigilante lynch mobs.

I doubt that there is any form of treatment that can change his thoughts & desires & the proven fact that he still has it in his mind to hurt children, in my view make him to dangerous to release?

However, if he is ever released, in my view, his identity should be protected.

I wonder If your view of identity protection would be the same if it was your child who was MURDERED WITH A BRICK.
At 10 years old you KNOW what you are doing !!

There is very obviously a massive lack of awareness about the effects of abuse/neglect and of mental illness in general. There is absolutely NO suggestion as far as I am aware that Venables is a psychopath. People need to realise that they have a limited perspective and just because you cannot conceive how someone may have done something like that, doesn't mean they must be evil.

I would defy anyone who has parented a child to argue that any child is evil in essence. People who practice violence have invariably had violence practiced upon them. They are products of their environment and, since their release, the media scrutiny of this case and the ensuing public attitude has very clearly made this an impossible situation for all.

The bottom line is that anyone's emotional health depends of being able to successfully interact with their environment. Venables has no chance of being able to do that so it doesn't surprise me at all that he has resorted to drugs and sexual deviance. He is probably a lost cause because there appears no setting in which he can be rehabilitated, but the most damaging aspect in believing he is simply evil is that you imply the problems are all of his making, and that conveniently exonerates the rest of society, which is really the problem.