Albert Kirby, the man who headed the Bulger murder inquiry, says a fresh trial would be pointless

A ruling by the European Commission on Human Rights in Strasbourg, to be made public next week, is expected to allow Robert Thompson and Jon Venables - now both 17 - leave to appeal against their convictions and sentences.

Joshua Rozenberg reports: "This is re-opening painful memories for the families"

A full hearing will take place in the Court of Human Rights - the highest court in Europe - in the next few months.

If the judges rule the boys' human rights have been breached, the whole trial could be ruled unlawful and the boys granted their freedom.

A legal expert said Friday: "This is a major step forward for the boys' fight for freedom.

Trial was 'degrading

On Monday, a detailed report on the case will be published, and then a 19-strong panel of judges will discuss the case.

A decision could take two or three years.

The killers' solicitors have always argued that the boys' trial was "degrading and inhumane" because it was held in an adult court.

Michael Howard ruled the killers should serve 15 years

They also claimed the 15-year sentences imposed on Thompson and Venables by the then Home Secretary, Michael Howard, were illegal.

Last March, the European Commission sitting in Strasbourg heard arguments by both the defence and prosecution about the trial.

They have now decided that there is a case to answer and have handed it over to the European Court.

Beaten and killed

James was two years old when he was abducted from the Strand Shopping Centre in Bootle on Friday, February 12, 1993.

His body was discovered two days later on a railway line in nearby Walton. He had been repeatedly beaten.

The BBC's legal affairs correspondent Joshua Rozenberg on the latest developments in the Bulger case

Thompson and Venables, who were just 10-years-old at the time, were convicted of James' murder after a three week trial at Preston Crown Court in November 1993.

Both boys have been detained at secure accommodation ever since.

The Home Secretary Jack Straw has already said he "deplores" what Strasbourg has done in its handling of the case - releasing information before the Bulger family was informed.

At her home in Kirkby, Merseyside, James Bulger's mother, Denise Fergus criticised the Strasbourg decision.

'Conviction was right'

She said: "No-one should forget the vile and monstrous crimes these two committed when they abducted James and killed him.

"They murdered him in the most horrific and despicable way imaginable and they cannot deny that. "Nothing can bring James back and nothing can wipe out what they did.

"To say they were degraded or that their trial was inhumane is ridiculous.

"I was there and it was clear to me that they were more than fairly treated.

"They knew exactly what was going on and the enormity of the crime they had committed.