Where Is Murderer Jon Venables Now? He Was Just 10 When He and a Friend Killed a Toddler

A 2-year-old toddler was murdered in 1993, and true crime fans want to know what happened to the little boy's murderer, Jon Venables. The killer was only 10 when he and a friend, Robert Thompson, who was also 10, tortured and killed the little boy.

Venables is now a 43-year-old man, and folks are still talking about the heinous crime he committed over 30 years ago. He and Thompson kidnapped James from a shopping mall in Bootle, Merseyside, England, before killing him. So, where is Venables now?

Jon Venables was released in 2001 after serving eight years for murdering the little boy, according to The Independent. Both he and Thompson received new identities that came with a court order banning the media from publishing their new names. The murdered boy's father challenged the ban in 2019 to persuade the courts to reverse the injunction, based on it not being sustainable, but his request was rejected.

Venables continued to get into trouble with the law and was arrested for cocaine possession and public brawling in 2008. He went back to prison in 2010 after child abuse images were found on his computer, but he was released three years later. In 2017, the killer was arrested again for being in possession of child abuse images, and he was twice rejected for parole in 2020 and 2023. The parole board denied him again in December of 2025, per The Guardian.

The killers,10-year-old boys Jon Venables and Robert Thompson, kidnapped James Bulger from the Merseyside shopping center and took him to some railroad tracks a few miles away. The boys threw modeling paint in James's eye and kicked and stomped on the 2-year-old. They also threw bricks and rocks at the toddler and put batteries inside his mouth before throwing an iron bar onto his head and fracturing his skull.

The boys put James across the railway tracks and weighed his head down with rocks and bricks to try to make James's murder appear as an accident. The pathologist later testified that the little boy had 22 splits, bruises, and grazes on his head and face, as well as 20 wounds on his body.

The boys were arrested days later, after footage showed them leading the boy away from the mall. They were convicted, and Judge Sir Michael Morland said they were guilty of “unparalleled evil and barbarity."

Thompson has kept a low profile since his release. During Venable's last parole hearing in December, Justice Secretary Alex Chalk said he agreed with the parole board's decision.

"James Bulger’s barbaric murder was a crime that shocked the nation," he said. "And I welcome the Parole Board’s decision to keep his killer behind bars."

James's mother said of the parole denial, "Venables has had so many chances in the past, and he’s blown them all. He doesn’t care. He seriously doesn’t care about anybody."

Denise also told the parole board, "Keep people safe from this monster, because that is what he is, and don’t give him what he wants."