Two men have been sentenced for publishing photographs on the internet said to show James Bulger's killers as adults.
Social media users Neil Harkins, 35, and Dean Liddle, 28, were given nine-month jail terms, suspended for 15 months.In February this year, two days after the 20th anniversary of the toddler's murder, they put photos on Facebook and Twitter respectively, which purported to depict Jon Venables and Robert Thompson as adults.
Venables and Thompson were aged 10 when they killed two-year-old James in Bootle, Merseyside in 1993.
Liddle and Harkins admitted breaching a January 2001 injunction, that was binding on the whole world and imposed before Venables and Thompson were released and given new identities in June that year.
The injunction prohibits the solicitation or publication of any information purporting to identify their physical appearance, whereabouts, movements or new identities.
Sir John Thomas, President of the Queen's Bench Division, and Mr Justice Tugendhat said Liddle, of Sunderland, Tyne and Wear, and Harkins, of Bridlington, East Yorkshire, knew what they were doing was wrong and it was no excuse that others were doing it.
Sir John said that the court would consider a custodial sentence, not only to punish but also to deter others, but would take the exceptional course of suspending it in this case.
He warned there was very little prospect of an offender avoiding a very substantial and immediate custodial sentence if there was any similar publication in future.
Sir John said Harkins, a house husband, and graphic designer Liddle had both removed the offending pictures very quickly and apologised.
He added that a fine would be wholly inappropriate to the gravity of what was a serious contempt and an unprecedented case.
He also said the penalty had to make clear the determination of the court to protect the potentially numerous people at risk and the importance of upholding the rule of law.
The judges had heard Harkins had 141 friends on Facebook and his post had been shared 20,000 times. The father-of-three accepted he had been extremely foolish and had shown genuine remorse.
Liddle, who had 915 followers on Twitter, undertook various charitable activities, the court was told, and an immediate custodial sentence would have major consequences for his profoundly deaf son.
Harkins said "no comment" as he left the Royal Courts of Justice. Liddle said: "I am just going to go home and see my son."
The action against the two defendants was brought by Attorney General Dominic Grieve.
He said the public interest required the injunction's enforcement to mitigate the "very real risk of serious physical harm or death" to anyone who might be identified, whether correctly or incorrectly, as being either of the killers.
After the ruling, Mr Grieve said: "An internet posting takes seconds but can have major consequences.
"These people were fully aware that there is an injunction in place which prevents publication of any images or information claiming to identify anyone as Jon Venables or Robert Thompson, yet they carried on.
"It has been in place for many years and applies to both media organisations and individuals.
"It is irrelevant whether the postings in this case were of who they claimed to be.
"The order is meant not only to protect Venables and Thompson but also those members of the public who have been incorrectly identified as being either of them."
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