Federal authorities are not commenting on whether one of the two 10-year-old boys who murdered British toddler James Bulger more than 20 years ago is living in Australia and working in childcare.

Government departments responsible for immigration, national security and early education have neither confirmed nor denied Robert Thompson has been allowed to start a new life in this country.

Thompson and Jon Venables abducted, tortured and murdered two-year-old James on February 20, 1993 in a crime which created international outrage.

The 10-year-olds led the little boy away from New Strand Shopping Centre in Bootle where he had been in the company of his mother.

Two days later, James’s mutilated body was found 4km away on a railway line at Walton in Liverpool.

Thompson and Venables were the youngest convicted murderers in modern British history when they were sentenced to indefinite detention in November that year.

They were released upon turning 18 in 2001 after being given new identities which along with their whereabouts are protected by court order.

News.com.au reported on Monday that Thompson – who would now be 43 – was believed to be living in Australia, as a woman, and working in childcare.

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Federal authorities are not commenting on whether Robert Thompson, one of the two 10-year-old boys who murdered toddler James Bulger, is living in Australia as a woman and working in childcare

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Robert Thompson and Jon Venables (above) abducted, tortured and murdered two-year-old Bulger on February 20, 1993 in a crime which appalled the world

The website sourced its story to a female relative of Thompson’s who had told private investigator Bill Edgar about her family link to the reviled killer.

The relative claimed Thompson had been living in Australia, had a male lover and might have transitioned to become a woman while employed in the childcare sector.

Mr Edgar is known as the ‘Coffin Confessor’ for providing a service to clients who wish their secrets to be revealed after death, often at their funeral.

The purported Thompson relative was unhappy that Thompson and Venables had been given new identities and not been forced to see out their days in prison.

‘She knows that he has lived in Australia,’ Mr Edgar told news.com.au of Thompson.

‘His lover is a male and he may have transformed into a female and may have worked in the childcare industry.’

Daily Mail is unaware of any evidence supporting the woman’s claims.

We contacted federal government departments which would be expected to have knowledge of Thompson living in Australia and working in the childcare industry.

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Thompson and Venables led two-year-old James Bulger (above) away from New Strand Shopping Centre in Bootle where the boy had been in the company of his mother

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Two days after he was abducted, James Bulger’s mutilated body was found 4km away in Walton, Liverpool, on a railway line (above)

Those inquiries were made on Monday.

As of Thursday afternoon, the Department of Home Affairs and Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke had not provided a statement about whether Thompson was living in Australia.

The Department of Education, which has responsibility for childcare policy and regulation, could not confirm whether or not Thompson had been working with children.

A departmental spokesman said on Thursday they would need Thompson’s new name or the location of a specific childcare centre to make further inquiries.

A spokeswoman for the Australian Federal Police said: ‘The AFP has no comment.’

The British Home Office could provide no assistance and the British High Commission in Canberra did not respond to an inquiry.

A spokesman for the Parole Board of England and Wales said: ‘I’m afraid we don’t comment on people’s whereabouts once they’ve been released from custody.’

Child protection advocate Hetty Johnston, the founder of Bravehearts and  Safeguarding Children Australia, believed authorities should provide answers.

Ms Johnston said it would be alarming if Thompson was working in childcare and authorities should publicly deny the claim if he isn’t.

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Thompson and Venables were released upon turning 18 in 2001 after being given new identities which along with their whereabouts are protected by court order

‘It should be easily answered with a no,’ Ms Johnston said.

‘The fact that it hasn’t been answered is concerning.’

Ms Johnston hoped government departments were not considering Thompson’s privacy ahead of the public’s right to know if he had been working in childcare.

‘The first port of call when people or organisations or governments don’t want to tell you stuff is to pull the privacy card,’ she said.

‘It’s the ace in the deck.

‘Where privacy and the best interests of children collide, the best interests of children must prevail.

‘We don’t know whether he’s still a danger to children or not but that’s irrelevant.  We cannot let people hide under privacy if there is a risk that they’re harming kids.’

Australian parents have been alarmed by a recent spate of childcare workers being charged with sex crimes against boys and girls under their supervision.

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There are precedents for federal ministers commenting on the whether Thompson (above) or Venables are living in Australia

In Victoria, Joshua Dale Brown, 26, is facing 73 charges including sexually penetrating children, sexual activity in the presence of a child and contaminating food.

Brown’s alleged offending took place at Creative Garden Early Learning at Point Cook in Melbourne’s western suburbs. He is believed to have worked at 24 childcare centres.

In  NSW, 26-year-old David William James is accused of photographing and filming boys as young as five in varying states of undress as well as performing sex acts with children.

James, a graduate of Knox Grammar on Sydney’s upper north shore, worked part-time at 58 out-of-school-hours centres between March 2018 and September 2024.

Ashley Paul Griffith was jailed for life in November last year after pleading guilty to 307 offences committed between 2003 and 2022 in Queensland.

The 47-year-old will spend at least 27 years behind bars for crimes including 28 counts of rape against girls aged three to five.

Workers sacked by childcare operators and banned from the sector have also been found to still have active working with children checks (WWCCs).

These cases and others have led to calls for an Australia-wide response to paedophiles going undetected in the industry.

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Child care worker Ashley Paul Griffith (left) was jailed for life after pleading guilty to 307 offences. Joshua Brown (right) is facing 73 charges including sexually penetrating children

A recent Victorian government review of childcare regulation recommended the establishment of a national early childhood reform commission and a national early childhood worker register.

There are precedents for federal ministers commenting on whether Thompson or Venables are living in Australia.

Ahead of the murderers’ release, then prime minister John Howard and immigration minister Philip Ruddock insisted they would never be resettled in this country.

In 2006, there were reports Thompson was in a stable gay relationship with a man who knew his real identity and the couple was living in Australia.

In June that year, the Western Australian police commissioner was forced to deny that a man charged with murdering an eight-year-old schoolgirl in Perth was one of Bulger’s killers.

Two months later, federal justice and customs minister Chris Ellison directly addressed rumours that Venables and Thompson were living in Australia.

‘I can categorically say that these allegations are false,’ Mr Ellison said. ‘We have not and would not allow either Jon Venables or Robert Thompson into Australia.’

Thompson is not known to have offended since his release from prison.

Venables was caught with child abuse images on his computer and returned to jail in 2010 and 2017. He remains in custody after the Parole Board refused his release in December 2023, finding he remained a risk to the public.