25/01/2019
Tina Malone, the Liverpool actress who appeared in Shameless and Brookside, has been referred to the High Court by the Attorney General's Office (AGO). The offence she is alleged to have committed is the sharing of images Jon Venables on social media.
There should be no doubt, ion she is found guilty, that she faces a custodial sentence.
Why?
In March 2018, Malone was threatened with prison time after retweeting a leaked photo of Venables. She cannot therefore claim to be ignorant of the restrictions that are in place.
Whilst there may be many people who believe Venables does not deserve the protection of anonymity, the fact is that publication of images of Venables or Robert Thompson is prohibited by law.
Venables and Thompson were given new identities following their release from jail after being convicted of the kidnap, torture and murder of Jamie Bulger, then aged two, in 1993. Venables and Thompson were 10 at the time. Venables has been returned to jail on two occasions, for possession of child pornography.
It important that the rule of law is adhered to and that people do not take matters into their own hands.
This news comes at the same time as the furore about the Oscar-nominated film about Venables and Thompson. Jamie Bulger's mum has been very vocal about her disgust in the release of the film and the fact it has been nominated for an Oscar. I can understand her revulsion and believe it was insensitive of the Irish film-maker Vincent Lambe to embark on the project without first having approached her and her ex-husband to seek their blessing.
That is not to say that the parents, Denise Fergus and Ralph Bulger, had a right to veto the making of the film. It would just have been courteous for Lambe to have reached out to them before starting filming. This would also have allowed the parents, had they so wished, to attempt legal action to prevent the film being made.
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