Toddler's killers asking for anonymity

The two young men who tortured and killed a toddler want to keep their identities and whereabouts secret when they get out of jail.

Jon Venables and Robert Thompson, both 18, were sentenced to life for murdering two-year-old James Bulger in 1993.

Security video showed Venables and Thompson, both 10 years old at the time, leading Bulger away from a mall near Liverpool.

His body, surrounded by a pile of bricks and splattered with blue paint, was found days later on a railroad. He had been beaten to death.

The pair, who were tried in an adult court, are hoping to be paroled soon. A court ruling in October said the two had served the minimum time necessary.

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That decision angered many, including Bulger's parents who were fighting to keep Venables and Thompson in jail for life.

The mens' lawyers were in court asking a judge to guarantee their clients anonymity when they're released.

The lawyers said Monday that the two youths will be provided with new identities and new faces. But they face a real threat if their whereabouts are disclosed.

Venables' lawyer argued the boys' identities were disclosed at the time of their 1993 trial because it was considered to be in the public interest. But now it's the state's duty to protect them, he said.

He argued an interim injunction banning media from taking or publishing pictures and reporting on Venables and Thompson should be extended to cover both of them for life.

Media organizations want the injunction overturned arguing the two are now adults.