Bulger killer faces life in jail - and identity exposed

Jon Venables, one of the two boys who killed two-year-old James Bulger in 1993, could spend the rest of his life in prison and risks having his new identity disclosed after breaching the terms of his release.

Venables and his accomplice Robert Thompson, who were 10 years old when they abducted and murdered the toddler, were released on licence in 2001 after eight years, having never served time in an adult prison. They were told then that if they breached the conditions of their release they could spend the rest of their lives in jail.

A Ministry of Justice spokeswoman said: "We can confirm that Jon Venables has been recalled to custody following a breach of licence conditions."

Details of the breach have not been given, but the conditions of the murderers' release stated that they could not return to Merseyside without permission, and that they could not contact each other or members of the Bulger family. Any criminal offence would also result in a return to prison.

Michael Wolkind QC told the Independent he thought the breach could well lead to Venables's new identity being blown: "Now this has been publicised, I think there must be a possibility of his new identity being exposed in prison and the inference must be it was a serious breach. To go to all the trouble of building him a new identity and a new life, there must be a significant chance it was serious."

But the Ministry of Justice clearly hopes Venables's new identity can be protected: "There is a worldwide injunction in place that prohibits any reporting including reporting on the internet, that could identify him or his location," it said.

However, as Trafigura found last year, injunctions only work against media organisations - not the wider internet, and most certainly not against Twitter. ·