THE Government last night faced growing demands to release more information about Jon Venables’s return to prison – led by victims’ rights champion Helen Newlove.

Mrs Newlove, whose husband, Garry, was kicked to death by a gang of yobs outside their home in Warrington, in 2007, said it was cruel not to tell James Bulger’s parents the full details.

She urged the Prime Minister to think again after he and Justice Secretary Jack Straw declared the new allegations faced by the little boy’s murderer must remain secret.

Mrs Newlove said: “It is another case of the victims not coming into it and the criminals being protected.

“James’s poor mother and father have to relive what’s happened every day.

“What Jack Straw has said is ludicrous. Venables has breached his parole and should be staying in jail. Venables and Thompson have been given everything on a plate and now we’re not even allowed to know the circumstances surrounding this – it is a disgrace.

“Just telling the parents Venables was recalled is breadcrumbs – it is cruel not telling them more.

“It would terrify me to think he has been back to Merseyside. If you are out shopping and bump into that person it would make you physically sick and you don’t know what actions you would take.”

Venables, 27, was taken back to prison more than a week ago after reportedly fighting with a colleague at work and developing a drug problem. In 1993, he and Robert Thompson, both just 10 at the time, led two-year-old James from a Liverpool shopping centre on a two-mile walk to his death.

They battered the little boy and left his body on a railway track for a train to cut it in two. In 2001, they were released from life sentences and given new identities protected by an anonymity order.

Home Secretary Alan Johnson said on Wednesday the public had a right to know what new allegations Venables faced.

But he was apparently slapped down by the Prime Minister yesterday, who maintained that no details would be released.

Last night, pressure was mounting on the Government to change its stance after a flurry of charities and opposition politicians joined Mrs Newlove in demanding greater rights and better treatment for James’s family.

James’s mother, Mrs Denise Fergus, and her ex-husband only found out about Venables’s recall hours before news broke in the media.