Jon Venables ‘faces 10 years jail for child porn’

Jon Venables, one of the two killers of the Merseyside toddler James Bulger, faces another 10 years in prison after being charged with downloading child porn.
 
It was revealed yesterday that Venables is accused of downloading 57 indecent images of children from the internet. He has also been charged with distributing seven child porn images using a 'peer-to-peer' network.
 
Venables is not expected to be in court for the hearing on July 23 at London’s Old Bailey. It is understood that he will follow proceedings from prison via a video link.
 
Venables and his school friend Robert Thompson were both aged 10 when they abducted James Bulger from a Bootle shopping centre. They left him for dead by a railway line after beating him with bricks and an iron bar. The pair were convicted in November 1993.
 
Now 27, Venables was released from custody nine years ago after being given a new identity. In March it was revealed that he had been returned to prison for allegedly breaching his parole.
 
The child porn charges were only disclosed after an injunction on reporting the case was partially lifted by a High Court judge on Monday under pressure from media organisations.
 
In May the director of Public Prosecutions, Keir Starmer QC, requested a court order preventing any publication of the charges. He argued that this would ensure Venables could receive a fair trial. Yesterday, however, Old Bailey judge Mr Justice Bean lifted reporting restrictions in the interests of open justice. ·