The Attorney General was investigating Thursday after photographs apparently showing one of the killers of toddler James Bulger were posted on Twitter.
The person who posted them claimed they showed Jon Venables, who was jailed along with classmate Robert Thompson over the two-year-old’s murder in Liverpool in 1993.
The pair were released from young offenders’ institutions on licence and given new identities in 2001. Publication of any information which could lead to their identities is banned by a court order.
The picture, which has since been removed from Twitter, was said to show the adult Venables, now 30, posing with friends.
A spokesman for the Attorney General’s office said: “The AGO has been alerted to a possible contempt of court. We are liaising with the MoJ (Ministry of Justice) and others to establish the facts.
“We can neither confirm nor deny whether the pictures in question are of Jon Venables.
“It should be noted, there is a worldwide injunction in place which prevents the publication of any images or information purporting to identify anyone as Jon Venables.”
Venables and Thompson were 10 when they abducted the toddler from a shopping centre in Bootle and beat him to death, in a crime which appalled the nation.
The boy was attacked with bricks and a metal bar and his body left by a railway line.
The release on license of the two killers, who had originally been given life sentences, sparked a public outrage.
Venables had his parole revoked in 2010 and was jailed for two years after admitting downloading and distributing indecent images of children. He remains in prison.
'Photo of Bulger killer Venables' posted on Twitter
