The mother of James Bulger said her son's killer has 'rubbed salt in her wounds' by issuing an 'apology' as he was locked up again for child pornography offences.

Jon Venables - who murdered James in 1993 - was today found to be a continued 'high risk to children' after he was caught with sickening pictures of youngsters as young as two being sexually abused.

Arguing against a long jail term, Venables' lawyer said he 'asked to apologise' to James' family over the latest instance of his repeat offending.

But Mrs Fergus, who was in court for the hearing, rejected the apology. Her spokesman said: 'To go on to apologise, or offer some kind of apology, about the harm and hurt that his re-offending has caused is simply rubbing salt in the wounds.'

She slammed a 40-month term Venables got for possessing more than 1,000 child abuse images and a so-called 'paedophiles' manual', branding the sentence 'a farce' and adding: 'He will be leaving the court today believing he has got away with it.'

Jon Venables, who as a boy (pictured) killed toddler James Bulger, has now admitted having child sex images. It is the second time he has been recalled to prison over the offence

James Bulger's parents, Denise Fergus (pictured, left, today) and her ex-husband Ralph Bulger (right in 2013) were in court for today's hearing. Ms Fergus branded the sentence 'a farce'

Denise Fergus, James Bulger's mother, with her new husband Stuart (right) and Chris Johnson (left), the chairman of the James Bulger Memorial Trust, outside the Old Bailey today

A spokesman for Mrs Fergus called for an inquiry into the case and accused authorities of 'colluding' to cover up Venables' pattern of behaviour.

Venables, referred to only as 'AB' due to his new identity, admitted having 392 category A images, 148 category B and 630 category C pictures.

The images were of children mainly aged between six and 13, although some were younger.

He also pleaded guilty to having a 'Jazz Guide' paedophile manual, described by prosecutor Louis Mably QC as 'a disgusting and sickening document which falls far below any recognisable standard of morality'.

It is the second time Venables has been caught with child abuse material since he was freed from custody for James' murder. But he was kept anonymous on the court list after judges' ruled his new identity still cannot be revealed.

The 'manual', which claimed to show how to have sex with young children 'safely', contained images of children as young as two being abused.

The court heard that, as he was being taken to a police station, Venables said: 'This is my own fault. I have let people down again.

'I have had stupid urges, inquisitive. I'm not going to be seeing this for a lot of years. It's not going to be a slap on the wrist for me.'

In a police interview, he admitted downloading the material from the dark web.

Probation experts found Venables has a 'long-term and profound interest in children' and is a 'high risk of real harm to children' in the future.

Jamie Bulger, pictured, was killed 25 years ago next week. The crime shocked the nation

Venables and Thompson led little James to his death from a shopping centre in Liverpool

Ed Fitzgerald, QC, defending, insisted the defendant had not planned to copy the abuse described in the book and claimed Venables still had 'the capacity for change'.

Sentencing Venables, Mr Justice Edis said: 'This case is unique because when you were 10 years old you took part in the brutal murder and torture of James Bulger.

'That was a crime which revolted the nation and which continues to do so even after the 25 years that has passed since it happened.'

He said the images of abuse he downloaded were 'heartbreaking for any ordinary person to see'.

Given his background it was significant that a number of the images were of crimes against young boys, the judge said.

The judge said of the manual: 'This is a vile document which gives detailed instructions on how to have sex with small children, as it puts it, 'safely'. The use of that word in that document reveals the cynical brutality of its author.'

'He'll think he's got away with it': James Bulger's mother's full statement after son's killer's jailing James Bulger's mother has also spoken about the case in a new documentary about the murder Chris Johnson, chairman of the James Bulger Memorial Trust, read a statement outside the Old Bailey on behalf of Denise after Venables' sentencing. He said: 'On behalf of Denise I would like to say that sitting through the hearing this morning was an horrendous ordeal for Denise having to listen to the vile and disgusting behaviour that Venables has engaged in yet again. 'The length of the sentence is too short - this is a farce. This is re-offending, there is a pattern to this behaviour. 'We believe he should have got at least double the original sentence for a similar offence two years ago. 'He will be leaving the court today believing he has got away with it. 'Three years and four months means that he will be eligible for parole in less than two years. 'Turning to the question of parole, we heard in the court that Venables actually breached his parole terms in 2015 gaining access to the internet. 'However we also heard that this was covered up and this was dealt with by way of police caution rather than him being brought back for a breach of his parole which is what we believe should have happened. 'We believe that that is fundamentally wrong and is also part of the pattern of collusion between authorities and Venables and highlights the need for a public inquiry into the handling of the case which is something we are currently calling for. 'Thinking to the future, if Venables is ever paroled then we think the handling of that parole needs to be entirely unique because of the unique handling of this case.' Ms Fergus's statement added: 'There should be no further collusion or attempts to cover up his offending behaviour. If he is ever parole again he must be kept on a very tight leash. 'Finally, to hear his counsel say in one breath that Venables was 'only 10' when he carried out the horrendous murder of James. 'And then to go onto apologise, or offer some kind of apology about the harm and hurt that his re-offending has caused is simply rubbing salt in the wounds. 'It is an an apology that Denise does not accept. Thank you, we have got nothing more to say.' Advertisement

Police search the train track where James Bulger's body was found in 1993

The judge said the offences, committed while on licence, showed Venables is a 'manipulative and dishonest' man.

He added: 'Your offences went back some months and required some ingenuity to keep it hidden.'

Mr Justice Edis made Venables the subject of an indefinite sexual harm prevention order and ordered that his laptop be taken away. He said the Parole Board would decide when Venables would be released.

Earlier the judge declined a request to delay sentencing so Mr Bulger could make a victim impact statement, saying: 'I know the impact on these two people of what happened when their child was killed.

'I know already how it must be for them when that tragic event is once more brought into the public domain into court and so on because of the offending of one of the killers.'

James's family have released photos of him ahead of the 25th anniversary of his death

Venables and his friend Robert Thompson tortured and killed two-year-old James in Liverpool in 1993 when they were both aged 10.

After serving eight-year sentences, they were granted lifelong anonymity that saw them released under new identities in 2001.

It is the second time Venables has been recalled to prison over child abuse images.

In 2010, he was sent back to jail for two years after pleading guilty to charges of downloading and distributing child pornography.

He had breached his licence twice before he was previously prosecuted for possessing child sex images.

A documentary deemed to sympathetic to the youngster's killer has been slammed by viewers

In September 2008, he was arrested on suspicion of affray after a drunken brawl and was given a formal warning by the probation service.

Later the same year he was cautioned for possession of cocaine after he was found with a small amount of the class A drug.

Venables and Robert Thompson were 10 when they abducted two-year-old James from the Bootle Strand shopping mall in Liverpool and subjected him to acts of horrific violence.

The toddler's body was discovered on a freight railway line 200 yards from Walton Lane police station, Liverpool, more than two miles from the Strand shopping centre.

Today's case came as James Bulger's mother slammed Channel 4's documentary accused of showing too much sympathy with his killers.

Viewers said interviews with Dominic Lloyd, who defended Thompson during the original trial, and journalist Blake Morrison, were too sympathetic to the killers.

Ms Fergus has recently visited James' gave with veteran ITV broadcaster Trevor McDonald

After the documentary, Mrs Fergus tweeted: 'Just to let you know that even though footage was used of me on the Channel 4 programme, I had no part in it. My documentary is on Thursday on ITV with Sir Trevor McDonald.'

Fergus discusses her attempts to find justice and learning to forgive herself in an emotional interview with Trevor McDonald in ITV's James Bulger: A Mother's Story, a documentary to mark the 25th anniversary of the toddler's death.

What has happened to Jon Venables and Robert Thompson since James Bulger's murder? Jon Venables, pictured as a boy, has been given lifelong anonymity by the courts Jon Venables and Robert Thompson were found guilty of killing Bulger in November 1993 and were sentenced to custody until they reached 18. They were freed in 2001, aged 18, and given a new identity to protect him from the risk of vigilante attacks. They were made the subjects of so-called 'Mary Bell orders', lifetime anonymity court injunctions named after Mary Bell, who was found guilty of killing two boys at a hearing in Newcastle in 1968. Only six people have been made subject of the orders; Venables, Thompson, Bell, Maxine Carr, who was convicted of perverting the course of justice in the Soham murders, and two brothers who, aged ten and 11, tortured two younger boys in Edlington, South Yorkshire in 2009. At the time of Venables' first release from prison, a psychiatrist ruled that he did not pose a danger to the public and was extremely unlikely to commit any further offences. Years later it emerged Venables had been detained in Vardy House - a small eight-bed section of Red Bank secure unit in St Helens on Merseyside - where it's said he made such good progress he was kept there for eight years, despite it actually being a short-stay remand unit. Shortly before his release in 2001, when aged 17, Venables was reported to have allegedly had sex with a woman who worked at the Red Bank secure unit where he was being held. The allegations were investigated and a female staff member accused of sexual misconduct was suspended, never to return. Venables' release under his new identity went ahead and he is known to have been living independently by March 2002 - some time thereafter beginning a relationship with a woman who had a five-year-old child, although he denies having ever met them. He was then reported to have had a number of 'younger girlfriends' which suggested he was enjoying a delayed adolescence. As his supervision was apparently reduced, he developed drinking and drugs problems, and he compromised his identity at least twice by telling friends he was a convicted murderer. In September 2008, he was arrested on suspicion of affray after a drunken brawl and was given a formal warning by the probation service for breaching the good behaviour terms of his licence. Venables and Robert Thompson were freed eight years after they were first locked up Later the same year, Venables was cautioned for possession of cocaine after he was found with a small amount of the class A drug. When a probation officer later visited his home in Cheshire to discuss his fears that he could be in danger, he was attempting to destroy the hard drive of his computer. The hard drive was later examined by police, who discovered that it contained dozens of indecent images of children. Venables admitted he had posed online as a 35-year-old woman who had abused her eight-year-old daughter, and was returned to prison. During his latest imprisonment he was given yet another new identity because of the risk posed by a previous security breach. Venables was paroled again in 2013 and took on his fourth new identity. He was sentenced to 40 months in prison after pleading guilty to having more than 1,000 indecent images of children, in February 2018. Advertisement

James Bulger's mother says his killers were 'rewarded' not punished as she relives horror of her son's murder 25 years and tells Sir Trevor McDonald: 'I've never had justice'

By Rod Ardehali and Stewart Paterson for MailOnline

The mother of murdered James Bulger said her son's killers were not punished but 'rewarded' for their horrifying crime.

Jon Venables and Robert Thompson were given new identities and granted lifelong anonymity once freed in 2001.

But while Denise Fergus saying she never wanted the boys jailed for the rest of their lives, the mother said 'I've never had justice for James'.

During the interview on ITV Mrs Fergus reveals previously unseen pictures of her child in happier times

Speaking to Sir Trevor McDonald in a new ITV documentary airing tomorrow night, Ms Fergus added: 'I did say that if they weren't punished properly, then they would go on to re-offend — and that's exactly what's happened.'

It comes as Venables, now 36, was jailed for 40 months after police found he was caught with a catalogue of child sex images and a so-called 'paedophiles' manual'.

It is the second time Venables has been caught with child abuse material since he was freed from custody for James' murder.

Ms Fergus, who attended the hearing along with James's father Ralph Bulger, branded the sentence as a 'farce'.

And tomorrow night, ITV viewers will tomorrow night seethe mother discuss the crime that shocked the nation.

James Bulger: A Mother's Story With Trevor McDonald will also explore Ms Fergus' attempt to find justice and learning to forgive herself in an emotional interview with Trevor McDonald to mark the 25th anniversary of the toddler's death.

Denise Fergus has shared photos of herself and her son James, before he was tragically murdered

The 1993 murder of James (pictured) led to an outpouring of public grief and shock

During the interview Mrs Fergus unveiled previously unseen photos of herself and her child prior to his brutal death.

The 50-year-old mother to three more sons said: 'What I want to do is turn something so negative, that happened to James, into something positive.'

But her appearance on ITV's James Bulger: A Mother's Story comes amid a wave of outrage following Channel 4's controversial documentary 'The Bulger Killers: Was Justice Done?' that aired on Monday night.

Writing on Twitter Mrs Fergus said: 'Just to let you know that even though footage was used of me on the Channel 4 programme, I had no part in it. My documentary is on Thursday on ITV with Sir Trevor McDonald.'

Jon Venables and Robert Thompson were just 10 years old when they brutally murdered the toddler in a crime that shocked Britain in February 1993.

The pair were Britain's youngest killers for 250 years and remain only two of six people with lifetime anonymity in the country.

Their arrests sparked outrage across the country and people tried to attack the van which was transporting the youngsters

The C4 documentary featured interviews with the killers' defence solicitors, prosecutors and journalists who covered the case - but many watching took exception to the suggestion the boys were too young to face trial at the age of 10.

Laurence Lee, Venables' solicitor, and Dominic Lloyd, who defended Thompson during the trial at Preston Crown Court, gave their opinions on the case on the show.

Mr Lloyd discussed his attempt to get the trial thrown out after he argued the boys could not have a fair trial because the jury had been prejudiced following media reports.

He said the boys would not have been prosecuted if they would have committed the crime a few months earlier because the age of criminality in England is 10.

Mr Lloyd said: 'If this offence happened a few months earlier it would not have been possible to prosecute Robert and Jon.

'They were just over the age where you can be prosecuted and I think in that type of case that has to be weighed down firmly in favour of rehabilitation.

'To do the contrary is to effectively condemn them to life at 10 years of age. Not something I'm comfortable with at all.'

Meanwhile, journalist Blake Morrison, who covered the trial for the New Yorker, spoke about his realisation the defendants were just 'two small boys'.

He said: 'To look at them in the court room to hear them on tapes was to realise that they were small boys, however disturbed, they were small boys.

'It hardened my feelings that we should not be treating children in the same way we treat our adults and however we judge their crimes.

'We should not do it in the way it was done in the Bulger case.'

His comment led to anger from viewers who felt he was sympathising with the boys who tortured and killed the toddler after abducting him from the Strand Shopping Centre in Bootle, Merseyside.

The boys were convicted of brutally murdering two-year-old James after abducting him from a shopping centre in Bootle, Merseyside, in February 1993.

The judge described the murder as an act of 'unparalleled evil and brutality' and the two youngsters were both handed eight-year sentences.

But the programme was slammed by some viewers on Twitter who were perplexed some people on the show appeared to defend the boys.