Jon Venables, one of the killers of the toddler James Bulger, has been charged with offences related to indecent images of children and his trial is to be held in private at an unnamed court, the Crown Prosecution Service has said.

Venables was returned to prison in November after he was allegedly caught with images of child abuse.

The CPS released a statement on Friday revealing that he had been charged and was to face trial.

It said: “The man formerly known as Jon Venables has been charged with offences relating to indecent images of children and will appear in the crown court.

“In order that justice can be done, no further details are being released at this stage and the proceedings are subject to reporting restrictions.”

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 and were released under new identities in 2001.

After Venables’s arrest in November, the attorney general launched an investigation into claims his identity had been revealed on social media.

In 2013, two men who posted images they claimed to be of Venables and Thompson were given nine-month sentences, suspended for 15 months.

Breaking the injunction on identifying Venables and Thompson carries a punishment of up to two years in prison.

When news of Venables’s latest arrest emerged, James’s mother, Denise Fergus, said: “Venables has now proved beyond any doubt what a vile, perverted psychopath he has always been.”

It is the second time he has been recalled to prison over child abuse images. In 2010, Venables was sent back to jail for two years after pleading guilty to charges of downloading and distributing child pornography.

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.

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