Jon Venables, one of the killers of James Bulger, has been jailed for two years after admitting to downloading and distributing indecent images of children, after images were found on his computer when he left it at a police station amid fears his true identity had been discovered.

He had pleaded guilty to three offences including the downloading 57 pornographic pictures of youngsters onto his computer between February last year and February this year.

Venables, 27, appeared at the Old Bailey by video link from prison but in a highly unusual move he could only be seen by the judge hearing the case. He only spoke to confirm his name and plead guilty to each count. It was the first time he had appeared since being recalled to prison in February.

Venables was given a new name after being released on licence from his life sentence in 2001, and fearing his secret had got out called a probation officer.

He was told to gather his belongings, and when the officer arrived he was trying to delete files from his computer and remove the hard drive. The machine was taken to the police station and later examined by officers, the High Court also heard.

Venables along with his friend Robert Thompson, were 10 when they killed two-year old Bulger in 1993 after abducting him from a shopping centre in Bootle, Merseyside. The pair were given life sentences but were released on license in 2001 after being given new identities which were protected from being made public. Bulger's mother Denise Fergus was in court to hear Venables admit the charges.

The High Court also heard that Venables was arrested on suspicion of affray in September 2008 after he and another man became involved in a drunken street fight. Later the same year, he was cautioned for possession of cocaine after he was found with a small amount of the class A drug, which was said to be for personal use.

Court orders remain in place which ban the publication of details which would reveal Venables's new identity including his address, his present whereabouts and the publication of his image or description.