Murdered child’s parents slam new movie about son’s killers

It was one of the most shocking crimes the world has ever seen. Now, a movie showing the “human side” of James Bulger’s killers has been nominated for an Academy Award.

Jon Venables and Robert Thompson’s crime shocked the world.

The mum of murdered UK toddler James Bulger has revealed her torment after a new movie about her son's horrific death was nominated for an Oscar.

Denise Fergus took to Twitter to express her disbelief after the 30-minute short film, Detainment, was revealed to be in the running for an Academy Award in the Live Action Short Film category.

The movie, directed by Vincent Lambe, centres on the detainment and questioning of James' baby-faced murders, Robert Thompson and Jon Venables, using child actors to recreate real police interviews with the pair.

Ms Fergus said she was "disgusted and upset" the movie had been made in the first place, let alone that it was receiving accolades. 

"It's one thing making a film like this without contacting or getting permission from James' family, but another to have a child re-enact the final hours of James' life before he was brutally murdered and making myself and my family have to relive this," Ms Fergus posted online, claiming a 90,000-signature petition to have the film removed from the prestigious awards' shortlist had been "ignored" by officials.

"I just hope the film doesn't win its category," she said.

The story of the English boy lured to his death by two 10-year-old children stunned the world in 1993 — and is no less horrifying today, almost 26 years on.

Ms Fergus only took her eyes off her son for a moment during a shopping centre outing — but it was long enough for Thompson and Venables to pounce.

Jon Venables and Robert Thompson were just 10 years old when they killed the little boy.

The child’s mutilated body was found on railway tracks two days after his disappearance, and his young killers were charged eight days after the crime.

It went on to become one of the most infamous crimes to ever take place, due to the savagery of the murder and the culprits’ astoundingly young ages.

Detainment director Vincent Lambe sparked outrage from James Bulger's family after he said the film aimed to show the “human side” of the child murderers.

A surveillance camera shows James Bulger being led to his death by Jon Venables. Picture: BWP Media via Getty Images

“A lot of people might feel it’s wrong to humanise those boys but I think if people can’t accept the fact that they were human beings they will never be able to begin to understand,” The Sun reported Lambe as saying recently.

“And the only way to prevent something like this happening again in the future is to understand the cause of it.”

James Bulger’s parents Ralph Bulger and Denise Fergus both slammed the film, revealing they were never approached by the director.

James Bulger with mum Denise in happier times. Picture: Bonnier Publishing

“Not once has the maker of this film contacted me or any of James’s family about this film,” Mr Bulger, 52, told the Mirror .

“It has been 26 years since my son was taken and murdered and so I have seen many documentaries and news stories about him.

“But I have never been so cut up and offended by something that shows so little compassion to James and his family … to make a film so­ sympathetic to James’s killers is devastating.”

James Bulger was on an outing with his mum at a shopping centre when he was abducted. Picture: Bonnier Publishing

Mr Bulger said it would be “horrific” if the film won an Oscar — a sentiment shared by former police chief Albert Kirby, who led the investigation into the boy’s death.

“I think it lacks any form of taste or decency and has been made without any consideration of the effect on Denise, the family and also any number of other people who were involved in the sensitive issues of the ­investigation,” he told the publication.

Ms Fergus has also publicly condemned the movie, calling for a boycott during a recent appearance on UK TV chat show Loose Women.

“In my own personal opinion I think he’s just trying to big his career up and to do that under someone else’s grief is so unbelievable and unbearable, especially for the family,” she said on the program.

Lambe has offered to donate proceedings from the film’s screenings to the Bulger family, but the offer has been refused.

When Venables and Thompson were found guilty in November 1993, they became the youngest convicted murderers in modern English history.

They were released on licence in 2001 after serving eight years for the murder and were both given new identities.

Thompson has kept a low profile ever since but Venables has been returned to prison twice for child pornography-related offences.

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