The website Friends Reunited is investigating after messages from people claiming to be the killers of James Bulger were left on their old school's message board.

The messages were spotted by former pupils of Walton St Mary CE Primary School, in Liverpool, which Jon Venables and Robert Thompson attended.

The pair were convicted in 1993 of abducting two-year-old James from a shopping centre in Bootle, Merseyside, murdering him and dumping his body on a rail track.

They were released in 2001 and given new identities.

James Bulger was abducted from a shopping centre and murdered

One message, claiming to be from Robert Thompson, read: "Hi! Remember me! Left suddenly after an unfortunate incident involving a two-year-old boy.

"I am now putting the past behind me and building a new life in another part of the country."

The message also claimed to reveal the whereabouts of Thompson and Venables, which has been kept secret to protect them from reprisals.

Another message, allegedly from Venables, read: "The past is history for which I am very sorry, but unfortunately I cannot turn the clock back."

James' mother Denise Fergus was reported to be "incensed" by the messages.

A spokesman for the website said it had launched an investigation.

'Particularly distasteful'

It receives up to 10 million hits a day from people trying to contact old school friends and has about eight million registered members in the UK.

Spokesman David Fisher said: "Obviously we take these things extremely seriously and this incident seems to be particularly distasteful."

Simon Creighton, solicitor for Jon Venables, said his client was "distressed" at the messages and planned to contact the police.