Rumour has it...

For a long time there's been a persistent rumour that Jon Venables and Robert Thompson, who murdered Jamie Bulger back in 1993, were given new identities and a new life each here in Australia after their release. Having done only eight years inside it was fairly predictable that this didn't go down well with an awful lot of people in either country, and it also shouldn't surprise anyone that there's been at least one case of mistaken identity in Western Australia. Yes, that guy is also a convicted murderer* so no great loss, and if he hadn't been charged with a horrible crime involving the sexual abuse and murder of a child the assumption that he was Thompson might never have been made. I mean you don't go round looking at random strangers and considering if their appearance and age might mean they're a released killer with a new identity, do you? There has to be something else that creates the association. Still, the point is that despite the fact that Arthurs clearly isn't Venables or Thompson people thought he might have been. And it turns out that after all that the bastards are probably still in the UK anyway. Venables has been returned to prison for breaching the conditions of his release and I can't see how that would be possible if he was anywhere but the UK. Aside from the highly remote possibility Australia would have let the bastard in in the first place (having been through the Aussie immigration system myself I know a little about this sort of thing - being married to an Aussie didn't excuse me from having to satisfy them that I was a law abiding sort and of good character) how the hell would the Probation Service be able to monitor him half a world away? And are we supposed to think they jumped on a plane to come over here and nick him for whatever he's supposed to have done now?Clearly bullshit, and arguably a failure of the authorities in both countries (but mainly the UK) to call bullshit loudly and clearly when the rumours began. Unfortunately the air of secrecy is being maintained and whatever Venables has done to earn a trip back to the nick is being kept quiet. I'm not suggesting that they publish the fuckers' addresses but can't they see that all this 'we're not saying, we don't trust you all' stuff is just going to fuel future rumours? Just fucking be honest about what country the fuckers are in and make it crystal clear that vigilantism will be prosecuted to the full extent of law. Obviously the best option would have been not to let the bastards out in the first place, but barn doors and bolted horses being what they are that's no longer an option.