Man who exposed new identity of James Bulger's killer Jon Venables, posted his photo on social media gets nine months in prison
A man has been sentenced to nine months in prison for tweeting a photo revealing one of James Bulger's killers.
51-year-old Anthony John Wixted defied a ban on exposing the identity of Jon Venables by posting his picture on social media before revealing an alias purportedly used by the killer as well as the prison in which he was being held at the time, Daily Mail reports.
Wixted, who hails from south London, admitted contempt of court after breaching a 2001 injunction which banned the publication of anything purporting to reveal the identities, appearance or whereabouts of Venables and Robert Thompson.
The duo had murdered two-year-old Bulger in February 1993.
They were later released from a life sentence for the kidnap, torture, and murder of Bulger when they were aged 10.
Both Venables and Thompson are now living anonymously with new identities since their release.
Lord Justice Bean sentenced Wixted at the High Court in London on Thursday.
"Save in exceptional circumstances, a deliberate breach of this injunction should result in immediate custody," he said. "There is in our view nothing exceptional about this case."
As he was handcuffed and led away by police, Wixted reportedly showed no emotion.
"SHARE SHARE SHARE", Wixted tweeted as he shared the photo of the killer on February 20, 2018, around the time of the 25th anniversary of the murder.
Two Twitter users responded to Wixted's post at the time, warning him of the injunction and how he had breached it, Lord Justice Bean noted.
However, Wixted replied saying, "Most people on Twitter think I'm doing a good job... I don't have to justify anything to anyone."
According to the report, Wixted also shared a local newspaper article about the conditions at the prison where Venables was allegedly being held.
Lord Justice Bean also noted the initial tweet was not taken down for three months, and as a result, was liked at least 56 times and retweeted 47 times. He said the High Court had repeatedly warned that breaches of the said injunction would result in immediate custodial sentences "save in exceptional circumstances."
"That is so not only because breaches pose a substantial risk to Venables or Thompson, but also because they pose a substantial risk to innocent members of the public who might be mistaken for Venables, as occurred in 2010," Lord Justice Bean said.
Bernard Richmond QC, mitigating, previously told the court Wixted was "a rather sad and lonely individual who has for many, many years been fighting his own demons."
He added Wixted was "interested in journalism and, in particular, in the subject of child abuse, and much of the work he has done has been perfectly legitimate," but then "stupidly" decided to share the picture when "many other people were getting worked up about the same thing."
Richmond subsequently requested judges to suspend any custodial sentence, stressing that Wixted had not only deleted the post but had also decided "not to engage in any discussion about Mr. Venables."
That said, Wixted is believed to be the fourth individual to be sentenced this year for defying the injunction protecting the identities of Bulger's killers.