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Anorak News | Jon Venables Is An Election Pawn: Labour Fears As Tories Turn Screws

Jon Venables Is An Election Pawn: Labour Fears As Tories Turn Screws

by | 12th, March 2010

JAMES Bulger: The Jon Venables conundrum is reaching to the globe’s far corners. In Australia the end result is seen as Venables being used as a pawn in the UK’s election game.

This afternoon’s (tomorrow morning already on Manley Beach) Saturday issue of the Sydney Morning Herald takes a long look at the re-call to jail of James Bugler’s joint killer and comes to the conclusions probably already reached by many here in Anorak.

The paper’s Paolo Totaro reviews the original crime, the return to jail of 27-year-old Venables and says Britain is confronting a new chapter as the justice system grapples with “a child murderer who has grown up and, despite a new identity, freedom and adulthood, is clearly not psychologically equipped to live a normal life.”

James Bulger Case in pictures

The article picks up on what was seen as the first major weakness here in the UK. Jack Straw’s fumbling of the judicial ball right at the start. It was a knock-on the tabloid pack took advantage of and tore into.

What should have been a straightforward statement instead became an almost furtive scurrying thing with no detail and a later dragged out of Straw “extremely serious allegations” led to a tabloid field day.

Drug Use

Sydney was today told of the tabloid rush to print the hurriedly gleaned details of Venables’ alleged behaviour. The fighting outside pubs, brawling, the visit to Liverpool against the life-licence conditions, drug-use and alcohol abuse. This was followed by claims Venables had started to repeatedly reveal who he was.

The conclusion in Australia was the authorities were forced to intervene because of Venables erratic behaviour and the alleged child-porn was discovered as a result of that intervention and not before. Whether or not Venables had porn had yet to be proven but still the tabloid rated it as “4” on a scale of “1 to 5”.

James Bulger Case in pictures

Paolo points out the tabloids were not alone and The Times, Guardian and Independent joined in with editorials and in-depth pieces. Most urged caution.

Fear

Then highlighted in the article is the Conservative reaction as the UK election draws near. It says the Tories smell the Labour side’s fear as the demands for more information increases. The Tories turn the screws.

The conclusion?

“Adult murderers are not protected nor their identities concealed. But in the case of Thompson and Venables, what was society to have done with two 10-year-old boys? Would it have been fairer to simply lock them up and throw away the key? In the eight years they were imprisoned, both boys underwent one of the most intensive rehabilitation programs available within the British criminal justice system in an attempt to prevent them becoming institutionalised. They were schooled, underwent intensive therapy, acclimatised slowly to freedom and were kept within a tight routine as they adjusted to life outside the local authority prisons in which they grew up.

“If Venables is found guilty of a crime as an adult, the pressure to provide details and potentially reveal his identity will increase. Whether politicians in an election campaign can withstand the pressure remains to be seen.”

Yup as far away as Australia they begin to smell the fear.

AGW

James Bulger Case in pictures

The Story so far:

Jon Venables Is A Failure Of Jack Straw’s Law
Jon Venables: Jack Straw Gets Denise Fergus To Be Quiet
Jon Venables Thumb Sucks, Cop Shows And No News
David Calvert Is The Man Who Could Never Be Everton’s Jon Venables
Jon Venables: The Rapist, The Porn And The Parents
James Bulger Case in pictures
Life’s Been Hell For Jon Venables, James Bulger’s Killer Accused Of Possessing Child Porn
John Venables ‘Sex Crime’ As Jack Straw Forced To Meet James Bulger’s Mum Denise Fergus
James Bulger And Jon Venables: The Killer Worked As A Bouncer
James Bulger And Jon Venables: The Killer Is Identified
Jon Venables’ Girlfriend, A ‘Stabbing’ And A Politically Incorrect Jack Straw
James Bulger: This IS Jon Venables
James Bulger’s Killer Jon Venables: Pictures And Sickening Detail
Jon Venables Saved By The Nanny State
James Bulger Case in pictures
David Calvert Is The Man Who Could Never Be Everton’s Jon Venables



Posted: 12th, March 2010 | In: Key Posts, Reviews Comment | TrackBack | Permalink