I'm aroused by child abuse pictures, says Jon Venables

Jon Venables confessed he is aroused by images of children being abused as police confronted him with his crimes, it was revealed today.

The child killer said he knew it was "breaking the last taboo" but remained disgusted at his actions, prosecutors told the Old Bailey.

Prosecutor Louis Mably said Venables admitted trying to format the hard drive on his laptop and then attempting to remove it to hide its contents.

During a police interview on March 18, Venables admitted downloading and viewing sexual images of children in a prepared statement.

He said: "I am responsible for downloading, viewing and deleting indecent images of children on my computer, of which I have been aware through my solicitor.

"The images were for my own use. I viewed the images alone. I have never shown the images to anyone else.

"I accept that using peer-to-peer can involve automatic distribution.

"I am willing to answer questions related to indecent images of children on my computer."

Mr Mably said that, under questioning, Venables said he realised police could still recover the images.

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He said: "I am not a fool to know that police can still get things off a hard drive, no matter what it is."

The prosecutor added: "He stated he got sexually aroused looking at indecent images of children, it was 'breaking the last taboo'."

The court heard Venables admitted masturbating while viewing the images and preferred images of teenage schoolgirls.

Mr Mably said: "He said he felt guilty about what he did and told himself 'How can I be looking at this?'."