New Zealand Prime Minister has issued a short and sharp response to reports British child killer Jon Venables could apply to relocate to the country.
"Don't bother," was Jacinda Ardern's message to the child murderer when a local news conference touched on the reports British officials were looking to potentially relocate him to New Zealand.
New Zealand's immigration department had not received any applications from Venables, she told media.
"Of course, because of his existing convictions he would need an exemption... my advice would be 'don't bother applying'."
Venables and accomplice Robert Thompson murdered toddler James Bulger 25 years ago when they were both just 10 years old, in a case that horrified Britain.
The UK's Ministry of Justice has repeatedly declined to comment on claims in the Daily Star of an apparent official bid to relocate Venables to Canada, Australia, or New Zealand.
But the Commonwealth countries have made it clear they will not be laying out welcome mats for the notorious killer.
The report claimed authorities grappling with the challenge of keeping Venables' identity under wraps believe paying for the killer to move to one of the three countries - preferably Canada- would be cheaper than funding more failed new starts in the UK.
Venables, now 34, was granted lifetime anonymity worldwide after being found guilty of the brutal 1993 murder.
He and Thompson snatched two-year-old James from his mum in a Liverpool shopping centre, then tortured and battered him to death on a railway line.
Authorities have struggled ever since to keep a lid on the killers' new identities, fearing they could be subject to violent retribution if their whereabouts became publicly known.
That struggled has intensified in the social media age, with Venables "outed" numerous times - including by himself- since he walked free in 2001.
Continued rearrangements at protecting his new identities have hit taxpayer coffers hard.
The Mirror reported last month Venables' latest attempt to keep his identity secret has cost more than £65,000 in public funds, after he beat a court bid by James’s dad Ralph, 52, to overturn the order.
Venables was jailed again in 2010 and 2017 on child abuse image charges.
A spokesperson for Australia's Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton told local media there had been no visa application from Venables.
When asked if a future visa application from the convicted killer would be considered, a spokesperson for the Minister told 9News they would not comment on a hypothetical situation.
Canada has also rejected any prospect of Venables relocating to its shores.
According to the National Post, privacy rules prohibit Immigration Refugees and Citizenship Canada from commenting on individual's cases, but the department pointed out applicants with criminal convictions may not be eligible.
An official source told the Canadian news site: “The reality is he (Venables) won’t get into the country. At the end of the day, protecting citizens of our country is the foremost thing. He represents a threat to national security.”