A woman, who cannot be named, has described her horror at discovering she dated Jon Venables, one of Jamie Bulger's brutal killers. Photo / Getty Images
A woman, who cannot be named, has described her horror at discovering she dated Jon Venables, one of Jamie Bulger's brutal killers. Photo / Getty Images
A woman has described her horror at discovering that she dated Jon Venables, one of Jamie Bulger's brutal killers, the Daily Mail reports.
The woman, who cannot be named to maintain Venable's anonymity, only realised her date's true identity when she came across a picture of him that had been circulated illegally online.
The woman revealed she felt physically sick when she realised she had gone on a 'date with the devil', she told Metro.co.uk.
Her experience gives an insight into the man the child murderer grew into: a manipulative yob desperate for sex.
The woman, who is around 10 years younger than Venables, met him on the bus to work they caught one another's eye. They began to talk regularly and it quickly became clear he had a thing for her.
"He was passionate about politics and was always going to gigs, he loved the same bands as me, so I liked his vibe. He was very confident, even obnoxious, and had a very dark sense of humour."
He was vague about his childhood and hated Facebook and the internet, which had made maintaining his anonymity difficult in the past.
A woman, who cannot be named, has described her horror at discovering she dated Jon Venables, one of Jamie Bulger's brutal killers. Photo / Getty Images
They met in a pub in a town centre. Venables arrived dressed smarter than usual and insisted on buying all the drinks.
As it was a Sunday, the couple did not stay out but kissed at the bus stop before they parted.
But soon he began bombarding her with text messages.
"It started off with normal post-date chat, he said he had a great time and wanted to see me again at his place. But I had a boyfriend at the time and he started demanding I finish with him, when I would not he started threatening me," she said.
The woman had a boyfriend and Venables threatened to tell him of her infidelity.
But in just a few days Venables had moved on, striking up a relationship with a mutual friend of theirs.
His odd behaviour continued. When he would see her woman on the bus with her boyfriend he would "blatantly" stare at her, and because the pair had mutual friends they could not help but see each other regularly.
At the time his words unnerved her but in retrospect they took on an even more chilling meaning.
Last week she discovered his true identity when a mutual friend saw an illegal picture of Jon Venables circulated on social media. It was like a jigsaw had fallen into place.
A long period of unexplained absence corresponded with the time he had served in prison for possession of child abuse pictures.
British child infant murder victim James Bulger.
She could not stop thinking about the kiss they had shared and what might have happened if she had taken things further with him.
Alongside her friend, they confronted Venables' then girlfriend who, it emerged, he had confided in. She admitted his secret.
"I felt sick when I was told, it still has not sunk in, he was just so average, he didn't scream 'child killer'".
Their circle of friends fell into shock. Many had known him for years. Some had even introduced him to their children.
To the amazement of many, his girlfriend continues to stand by him, despite knowing about both his conviction for child abuse pictures as well as the murder of Jamie Bulger.
The woman's mind kept on returning to one thought: that she is the same age Jamie Bulger would have been if he was still alive today.
