Fury over Bulger killer's tryst with girl guard: Why was Jon Venables' sordid encounter in secure unit covered up, asks James' mother

Bulger's mother demands to know why there was 'cover up'

Justice: Denise Fergus is now demanding a Government inquiry amid claims of a decade-long 'cover-up'

The mother of James Bulger reacted with disgust and anger last night to revelations that one of her son’s killers had sex with a female guard.

Jon Venables had a tryst with the woman in an empty building at his secure children’s home in 2000 – shortly before he was granted parole.

The guard has not been prosecuted over the sordid episode, which took place when the killer was 17.

Denise Fergus, whose toddler son James was tortured and killed by Venables and his accomplice Robert Thompson, is now demanding a Government inquiry amid claims of a decade-long ‘cover-up’.

And she questioned whether Venables would have been cleared for release in 2001 if the Parole Board had been aware of the incident at Red Bank secure unit in Merseyside.

Officials had been told that Venables – who is now back in jail for possession of child pornography – had been making good progress.

It was reported yesterday that five independent sources were aware of an incident of sexual misconduct – and Red Bank’s attempts to cover it up.

An inquiry into the events leading up to Venables’s recall to jail, conducted by Sir David Omand last year, made no mention of the episode. But Sir David confirmed at the weekend that he knew about the allegations.

The incident happened when Red Bank was in chaos after management upheavals and facing the threat of closure.



It ignored all protocols for dealing with serious incidents, such as immediately alerting the prison service and local social services.

Mrs Fergus said: ‘The Parole Board should go back to 2001 and review its decision on Venables since it was clearly based on lies and deceit.

‘I want a full inquiry to get to the truth about what went on while they were in those secure homes and how false reports were given to the judges.

'Cover up': Jon Venables, shown after his arrest for the murder of James Bulger in 1993, reportedly had sex with a female prison worker when he was 17

‘I was told at the time they were like holiday camps behind bars and that those evil pair had not been rehabilitated.

‘Now we know that a woman who was supposed to be in charge of Venables had sex with him and was suspended. She should have been prosecuted for having sex while in a position of trust and if she wasn’t, we ought to know why.’

Venables, now 28, was convicted with Thompson of murdering two-year-old James in 1993 after abducting him from a shopping centre in Bootle, Merseyside.

'It stinks and it's high time the secrecy was removed entirely from this case so we can know the real truth' Denise Fergus

Mrs Fergus, who still lives in the area, said: ‘I always said they were determined to release those two no matter what they did. Now that has been proved correct. If they covered this up, who knows what else they have hushed up along the way with both Venables and Thompson.

‘It stinks and it’s high time the secrecy was removed entirely from this case so we can know the real truth.’ Malcolm Stevens, a former senior Home Office official who was closely involved in the Bulger case, said the disclosure of sexual activity between Venables and a member of staff was ‘dynamite’.

Venables, who had been at Red Bank for eight years, had sex with a staff member responsible for his care. She had a formal duty to behave as a ‘substitute parent’.

Sources say she was accused of sexual misconduct, suspended and did not return to Red Bank. A senior manager at Red Bank believed Venables and the woman had sex in an empty property on the site during a walk in the grounds.

The Prison Service ordered an investigation, which was conducted by Arthur de Frisching, a retired prison governor. Its outcome is not known. A further, local inquiry reached an inconclusive verdict as to what exactly had happened

Murder: A surveillance camera shows the abduction of two-year-old James Bulger from the Bootle Strand shopping mall in 1993

Ministry of Justice officials yesterday denied any cover-up. A spokesman said: ‘Sir David Omand’s terms of reference made it very clear that he was reviewing the management of Jon Venables from his release in June 2001 until his recall to custody in February 2010.’

Last year, Venables, who had been living under a secret identity since his release on parole, was handed a two-year sentence for downloading and distributing child pornography.