What is lifelong anonymity, why were Jon Venables and Robert Thompson given new identities and how does it all work?
JAMES Bulger's killer Jon Venables was granted a new identity despite being jailed again for having a sick paedophile manual instructing him how to "have sex with young kids".
The twisted monster and his killing assistant Robert Thompson were granted lifelong anonymity - to the fury of the victim's parents when it was initially granted.
What is lifelong anonymity?
Under current legislation, child suspects are granted automatic anonymity in the youth courts and are routinely granted the same if they appear at crown court aside from exceptional circumstances.
But once a child turns 18, their name can be reported.
Lifelong anonymity is put in place by courts rarely and is usually in only the most infamous and horrific cases.
Adult criminals have also been given new identities over fears of vigilante attacks.
There are currently six infamous Brit criminals whose crimes are so notorious they have been given lifetime anonymity.
Why did Jon Venables and Robert Thompson get new identities?
Jon Venables and Robert Thompson were just ten-years-old when they murdered two-year-old James Bulger.
The horrific crime shocked the nation when the tot was abducted, tortured and murdered by the evil boys before being dumped on railway tracks in Liverpool in 1993.
The identity of the killers was concealed from the public during their arrest and trial.
But because of the public outrage, the two schoolboys were tried in an adult court where they were convicted of murder.
Judge Justice Morland then named the murderers and sentenced them to a secure youth accommodation facility with a recommendation that they serve at least eight years in prison.
The twisted pair were jailed but in 2011 were released and given new secret identities.
Venables has since been jailed for more than three years after he admitted possessing a sick stash of 1,170 child sex abuse images featuring kids as young as six - causing Jamie's dad Ralph to plead for his identity to be uncovered.
His former lawyer Laurence Lee, who represented him at the murder trial, said his anonymity should be lifted.
On March 4, 2019, it was announced Venables is to keep his anonymity after a judge ruled it would protect him from "serious violence".
In their bid to have Venable's identity disclosed, lawyers for Ralph and Jimmy Bulger argued certain details about the killer and his life are "common knowledge" and easily accessible online.
But the President of the Family Division Sir Andrew McFarlane rejected the bid, saying it was in place to protect Venables from being "put to death".
"My decision is in no way a reflection on the applicants themselves, for whom there is a profoundest sympathy," he said.
"The reality is that the case for varying the injunction has simply not been made."
He added: "As Dame Elizabeth Butler-Sloss held, (Venables) is 'uniquely notorious' and there is a strong possibility, if not a probability, that if his identity were known he would be pursued resulting in grave and possibly fatal consequences.
"This is, therefore, a wholly exceptional case and the evidence in 2019 is more than sufficient to sustain the conclusion that there continues to be a real risk of very substantial harm to (Venables)."
How is actress Tina Malone involved?
The Shameless actress narrowly missed jail time after she admitted to breaching an injunction protecting the new identity of Jon Venables where she shared a photo of the killer online.
Malone was handed an eight-month suspended jail sentence after admitting to breaching the injunction that protects the identity of Jon Venables - blaming the social media post on the stress of her cocaine panto arrest.
She was also ordered to pay £10,000 in court costs.
Malone's solicitor, Mark Manley, said after the ruling: "She's naturally very happy that this matter is now concluded and that she is able to go home to her family this evening."
He added: "She's obviously very sorry to have found herself in this position."
How does lifelong anonymity work?
Using the 1998 Human Rights Act, killers and their accomplices can successfully argue the threats to their lives from vigilante groups are so great, they should be entitled to round-the-clock police protection and a new life when they are freed from prison.
Government guidelines demand those applying to the High Court for new identities as their release date approaches must prove their lives would be at risk without anonymity.
Their new lives are paid for by the taxpayer - sometimes costing millions of pounds for a new name, National Insurance number and passport.
Only a tiny group consisting of a senior official in the Public Protection Unit at the Ministry of Justice, up to two probation officers and a designated police officer - of commander level - working in the area where the criminal lives, know the criminals' original identity.
MORE ON THE MURDER OF JAMES BULGER
Who else in the UK has lifelong anonymity?
There are six criminals with lifelong anonymity in the UK - four of them notorious:
- Maxine Carr She is the ex-lover of Soham monster Ian Huntley who murdered Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman, both ten, in 2002. Maxine provided him with a false alibi and was jailed for three-and-a-half years in December 2003 for perverting the court of justice. When released in 2004 she was granted lifelong anonymity.
- Mary Bell The child killer strangled Martin Brown, 4, and Brian Howe, 3, in 1968 when she was just ten-years-old. She was sentenced to life in prison but was released in 1980 aged 23 and given a fresh identity to protect her daughter when she was born four years later.
- The Edlington brothers The "devil brothers" were 10 and 11 when they tortured two young boys in a horrific attack in 2009. Their victims, aged 9 and 11, were assaulted for 90-minutes in a rubbish-strewn ravine in Edlington, South Yorkshire. They were given indeterminate sentences but freed after serving six years. In December 2016 the brothers were granted lifelong anonymity over fears of vigilante attacks. The younger brother was given a second new identity after being found with a blade 20 weeks later.