ON HOLIDAY (all expenses paid, of course)

JAMES Bulger's murderers are this week being treated to a holiday at the taxpayers' expense to keep them safe during the 10th anniversary of the toddler's horrific death.

Jon Venables and Robert Thompson, both now aged 20, have been given round-the-clock protection by armed police in their secret and separate hideaways.

A source said last night: "The police are worried. Only the Royal Family and Tony Blair have a higher level of security."

The pair - who murdered two-year-old Liverpool boy James 10 years ago on Wednesday when both were aged 10 - are also causing headaches for police through their drunken and arrogant behaviour.

Venables' attitude has been so bad at times that his frustrated police minders once threw him across the bonnet of a car - and threatened to leave him chained to a lamp-post in Liverpool to teach him a lesson.

A source said: "Their patience was at an end. They couldn't believe how cocky he'd got."

Police are concerned that the anniversary will spark new anger in Liverpool - where criminals are said to have put out a pounds 100,000 contract on their heads and visited several towns and cities to search for clues as to where they are.

A source said last night: "The threat to their lives is very real. We believe they are being actively hunted.

"And they are both very nervous about the date anyway. They know it will bring back all the memories.

"In view of this, it was thought it would be best to take them somewhere where there are no TVs or newspapers."

The huge, long-term police operation to protect the two young men is estimated to have cost around pounds 250,000 so far.

Both have been living on State allowances under false identities since being released from prison in November, 2001.

They are both housed many miles from Liverpool in fully-equipped flats with central heating and get help with gas and electricity bills.

They have been given mobile phones and computers - but are not allowed internet access - and spend much of their days playing video games,

For security reasons, they are not required to apply for unemployment and other benefits in the normal way, but have the cash paid by special arrangement.

Access to the funds is carefully monitored, but a source told the Sunday Mirror: "It's a nice little nest-egg for the future."

Police are, however, convinced that no matter what they do, the two killers will one day be unmasked.

The Home Office has already authorised a special "escape fund" of pounds 10,000 for each of the killers to allow a quick getaway if their whereabouts are discovered.

The problem lies in the characters of the pair who, as they have grown into manhood, are showing disturbing signs of becoming uncontrollable.

The source said: "One minute they are unbelievably cocky and arrogant and believe they can do anything they want.

"The next minute they are shaking with fear if they think someone may be on to them.

"Those closest to them believe the situation is rapidly spiralling out of control.

"They believe they are untouchable and are starting to treat their police minders like servants. It is unbelievable how cocky they are. Venables has even asked for a brand new house. He just thinks he can demand anything he wants. And his drinking is starting to cause real concern.

"He becomes very talkative and indiscreet in drink and his minders are living on a knife-edge fearing he might blow the gaffe. The officers are getting seriously fed up with them. All they can see is the rest of their careers going down the pan with looking after this pair."

Venables even threatened to ring Britain's most senior judge after the two police officers threw him across their car bonnet - then bundled him into the back and handcuffed him.

He told them: "You can't do anything to me. I'm much too important for the likes of you. I've got Lord Woolf on my side, and lots of other people too..."

Lord Woolf was the Lord Chief Justice who authorised the pair's freedom after a controversial ruling by the European Court.

The source said: "The police were already fed up with him for giving them lip and being generally disrespectful. He thought he was someone really important. Worse, he had started boasting about how special he was.

HE had repeatedly been warned about being indiscreet, but he just said they couldn't do anything to him because of who he was. In the end they decided to teach him a lesson."

It was then that Venables threatened to contact Lord Woolf. But he blanched in terror when the officers threatened to drive him to Liverpool and handcuff him to a lamp-post with his trousers round his ankles.

The source said: "That stopped Venables in his tracks. There were no more threats after that. He was as meek as a lamb. He is terrified of going anywhere near Liverpool.

"He knows only too well what would happen to him if he ever set foot in the place again. He knows he would be lynched. Too many people hate him for what he and Thompson did."

The source added: "The officers would never do anything like that under normal circumstances and they never would have gone through with it but they believed it was the most effective way of making him understand the seriousness of the situation.

"In many ways they feel sorry for him, because after all,he was only 10 when he committed the murder.

"But he was starting to act like a real idiot and he had to be taught a lesson or he could jeopardise everything by his foolishness."

Other incidents have also put the police on edge. Last year Venables called them after being woken by a sound in his front room. Within minutes, two armed officers were speeding toward his house. They let themselves in and found him cowering on the floor of his bedroom.

They found someone had tried to force a window in the front room. No one had got in - and the intruder had gone before the police arrived.

Another time, he thought he heard his name mentioned in a pub. In a panic, he called his police minders. They arrived armed and ready...to discover people had been talking about someone else.

In a third incident he horrified the police by going on a drinking binge and blurting out something in a pub which could have identified him. The source said: "It's exactly the kind of thing that he has been warned against - and shows up the huge problems facing those who look after this pair.

"They are powerless to prevent these indiscretions. One day the wrong person is going to find out about one or both of them."

Venables is said to still have flashbacks about James' murder and to sometimes wake up screaming. The source said: "There are now real fears about his mental state."

As another way of protecting the youths, meetings with relatives are carefully worked out and monitored. Thompson or Venables are picked up from their homes by detectives who drive them to secret locations.

Meanwhile, their parents or other relatives are met by yet more officers at an agreed location. They are then taken to the secret meeting place.

The meetings usually last for about three hours...and every word and action is recorded on concealed video cameras.

The source said: "The pair are aware of this, but are not bothered because they realise it's for their own security."

The two boys killed two-year-old James after abducting him from a shopping centre in Bootle, Merseyside. The case caused international outrage and crowds attacked their prison van when the pair stood trial at Preston Crown Court.

They were found guilty of murder and sentenced to life imprisonment - but released after eight years following the European Court ruling.

The preparations were worked out in painstaking detail by the Dangerous Offenders' Unit attached to the Home Office.

The pair were given their new names and coached in their false backgrounds until they were word-perfect months before they let out. They were even made to do outdoor activities and exercise regimes to help change their appearances.

At first, they were taken to secret locations for an intensive period of indoctrination into how to cope with the world outside.

Sending them to Australia and Canada had even been discussed, but the authorities there refused to accept them.

A source said: "It would have suited everyone to get this pair abroad.

"No one was in any doubt about the huge headache looking after them in this country would cause."

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