Jon Venables, who has been given a new identity, will stand trial before a crown court.

The venue has not been released but the media will be allowed to report the hearing. Venables and Robert Thompson tortured and killed two-year-old James in Liverpool in 1993 when they were both aged 10.

After serving eight-year sentences, they were granted anonymity and released under new identities in 2001.

A CPS spokesman said: “The man formerly known as Jon Venables has been charged with offences relating to indecent images of children and will appear in the crown court.

“In order that justice can be done, no further details are being released at this stage and the proceedings are subject to reporting restrictions.”

This is the second time Venables has been recalled to prison.

In 2010, he was sent back to jail for two years after pleading guilty to charges of downloading and distributing child pornography.

In September 2008, he was arrested on suspicion of affray after a drunken brawl and was given a formal warning by the probation service for breaching good behaviour terms of his licence.

Later in the same year he was cautioned for possession of cocaine after he was found with a small amount of the class A drug. 

Following Venables’ arrest in November, the Attorney General received a complaint that his new identity had been revealed on social media.

In 2013, two men who posted images they claimed to be of Venables and Thompson were given nine-month sentences, suspended for 15 months.