The stories now seem mostly to be back to the line that Venables was recalled for pornography offences. Yesterday however some reports were saying that he was due to be charged with the rape of a 9-year old.

There are four questions, it seems to me: -
1. Is Calvert Venables? The answer can only be "no".
2. Should Venables be or have been killed, by the state or vigilantes? No, that cannot be permissible - other punishments can be undone or compensated if erroneous, but death is irreversible.
3. Should Venables be outed? Having regard to the resources consumed by creating and maintaining a new identity, I have difficulty seeing that he deserves protection. What makes him worth more protection than Jamie Bulger got?
4. Should the two little killers have been released in the first place? No. They were never going to be capable of being made over to a civilised state. Were it not for point 2 above I would have thought a case could be made for their permanent disposal.