The British Home Secretary, Mr Jack Straw, has transferred the decision on how long the two boys who murdered the Liverpool child, James Bulger, must remain in detention from his office to the Lord Chief Justice, he announced yesterday.
Mr Straw was expected to announce in the House of Commons the earliest possible release date for Jon Venables and Robert Thompson, who were 10 years old at the time of the murder. He could have set the tariff, the minimum sentence to be served, at 10 years. Their earlier possible release date would then have been in 2003.
Instead Mr Straw surprised observers while responding to a European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) judgment on the Bulger case, when he said he would be bound by the decision made by the Lord Chief Justice, Lord Bingham, on the appropriate tariff.
The two boys were convicted in 1993 for the murder and torture of James Bulger, who was a two-year-old when they abducted him from a shopping centre in Liverpool.
The murder, and the young age of the two boys, shocked British and international opinion, and after their trial the lord chief justice recommended they serve 10 years. Under pressure of public opinion, the home secretary, Mr Michael Howard, overruled the decision and set a tariff of 15 years.
Last December, however, the ECHR ruled that Mr Howard acted illegally and recommended that politicians should not decide the length of sentences. It also ruled that the two boys had had an unfair trial because they were tried in an adult court.
Pointing out that the House of Lords had already quashed Mr Howard's decision in 1997, Mr Straw said "there is therefore no tariff for either offender in this case at present", and Lord Bingham would consider recommendations from interested parties as quickly as possible.
Speaking in the Commons three days before what would have been James Bulger's 10th birthday, Mr Straw conceded that the uncertainty for the Bulger family would be distressing. But he said the family and the public could take some reassurance from the fact that the tariff to be set was only a minimum for the requirements of retribution and deterrence.
As part of the British government's response to the ECHR ruling, the Lord Chief Justice will review all tariffs and the Home Secretary will be bound by his decisions. The views of victims and their families will also be taken into greater account when setting tariffs.
The shadow home secretary, Ms Ann Widdecombe, accepted Mr Straw had no alternative but to observe the ECHR ruling but said the ruling had caused "great disappointment and offence to many in this country". She said she considered a 15-year tariff as appropriate given the severity of the crime.
In a statement, James Bulger's mother, Mrs Denise Fergus (32), said she awaited the Lord Chief Justice's decision and would continue to fight for justice for her son. She said: "All I am interested in at this moment of time is remembering James and especially so on his 10th birthday. I will then await the Lord Chief Justice's final decision before I take any action myself and I would like to point out that I am leaving every avenue open and will fight for justice for James."