The father and uncle of murdered toddler James Bulger have lost a bid to have information about killer Jon Venables made public.
A worldwide order made in 2001 has allowed Venables to live under a cloak of anonymity since his release from a life sentence for the kidnap, torture and murder of the two-year-old in February 1993.
READ MORE: James Bulger killer Jon Venables back in jail
Lawyers for Ralph and Jimmy Bulger argued certain details about the killer and his life are “common knowledge” and easily accessible online.
They had asked the President of the Family Division, Sir Andrew McFarlane, to consider varying the order so that it does not cover this information.
The court previously heard the information includes details of Venables’s identities and former addresses up to 2017 and the prisons where he has been detained.
READ MORE: Defence offers no evidence as boy admits killing Bulger
In a ruling on Monday, President of the Family Division Sir Andrew McFarlane said: "My decision is in no way a reflection on the applicants themselves, for whom there is a profoundest sympathy.
"The reality is that the case for varying the injunction has simply not been made."
The judge said the injunction was designed to protect Venables from "being put to death".
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)."
Toddler James Bulger was killed by Venables and Robert Thompson, who were both aged 10, after they snatched him from a shopping centre in Bootle, Merseyside.
They were both granted lifelong anonymity by a High Court judge and have lived under new identities since their release from custody.
The court order was amended in relation to Venables after he was convicted of further offences in 2010 and February last year.
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