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'Vile' computer game using image of Bulger kidnap withdrawn from sale
Last updated at 07:22am on 20.06.07A computer game which appears to show a CCTV image of murdered Liverpool toddler James Bulger being abducted has been withdrawn from sale
James's mother has attacked the game after it used the haunting image of her son.
Denise Fergus yesterday called for a boycott of the game over the "vile" use of the picture, which shows the two-year-old being led away to his death.
She called on shops to stop selling the game, which is called Law And Order: Double Or Nothing.
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The Law and Order computer game contains the CCTV image of James Bulger being led away by his murderers
The infamous still photo shows James being abducted by his ten-year-old killers, Robert Thompson and Jon Venables, from a Liverpool shopping centre in February 1993.
It is used as a visual clue in the game - which is based on the Channel Five television series of the same name - which asks players to help solve a murder in New York.
A fictional detective refers to the image of James, which is pinned on an office wall, when asking gamers to investigate a kidnapping.
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The moment James Bulger was led away from Mothercare by his killers
Speaking from her home in Kirkby, Merseyside, 37-year-old Mrs Fergus said: "Using that terrible picture of James as part of a game is sick.
"To know that he has been turned into a clue in a game makes me very angry.
"The people who made this game have treated James as though he is public property. It is like they think he is some kind of fictional figure.
Jamie Bulger: Murdered 14 years ago
"It dehumanises the memory of my lovely son. I want it stopped immediately.
"What on earth they are thinking of when they do this beggars belief.
"I don't want to stir up more interest in it and I wouldn't waste my breath on it if I did not have to.
"But I can't risk ignoring it for fear that the game makers will think I don't care and somehow take that as approval for the vile thing they have done.
"It is bad enough that books and plays have been written around James's murder but to use him in a game is below contempt.
"It is hurtful to me and my family and I am determined to do everything in my power to get the picture of James taken out of this game.
"All copies in the shops should be scrapped and I would appeal to anyone who has got the game to destroy it or demand a refund."
'Sick': Denise Fergus is calling on retailers and anyone who has bought the game to ensure that all existing copies are scrapped
Thompson and Venables, both then aged ten, lured James away from his mother while she was shopping in the New Strand Shopping Centre in Bootle in February 1993.
They dragged the toddler two miles through the streets to a railway line where they sexually assaulted, tortured, and battered him with an iron bar and bricks. He died on the track, before his body was struck by a train. The killers spent almost eight years in jail but were released with new identities after winning early parole in June 2001.
Retired Detective Chief Superintendent Albert Kirby led the investigation into James's murder and allowed the CCTV images to be released to help police catch his killers.
He said that the picture should be removed from the game immediately.
"It is thoughtless, inconsiderate and lacks any form of decency to choose to use such emotive images in a game," he added.
"This was a horrendous crime that appalled not just the people of Merseyside but the whole of the UK.
"I would appeal for the game makers to save any further distress to Mrs Fergus and her family by withdrawing the images immediately"
Robert Wareing, Labour MP for Liverpool West Derby, also backed calls for the game to be scrapped.
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'Law and Order: Double or Nothing' is based on the US TV crime drama
"Why anyone would seek to use images of James's terrible abduction as part of a moneyspinning computer game is beyond me," he added.
"They are thoughtless and clearly couldn't give a damn about the family of the victim of what was a horrific crime."
The game's manufacturer, Global Software, was unavailable for comment.
Reader views (3)
This is disgusting, do the makers of the game believe, that having this image in the game, will make them controversial, and therefore sell more games? Imagine a game being made where there is a video or pictures of the twin towers attack, in a humorous sense, there would be public outcry! I say fine the game producers, and destroy all copies of the game!
- Rian, Derbyshire
I only heard about this last night on the radio, and it literally made me feel sick, what on earth are these people thinking about? Poor Jamie's mum she must be devastated, my heart goes out to her, honestly these people have no feelings for other people they just don’t give a damn... all they care about is money.
- Tracy Hammond, Warrington / cheshire
As a fanatic Law & Order fan, I bought the game a week ago and just finished it 24 hours before it hit national TV news. As a law student, I learned and cited the abduction case about a year ago in a piece of course assignment essay. Is there some kind of destination there?
Well, I was about to write a game review, about the story, about the game design, about the evidences, about the cops and prosecution...and staff. However, no way I'd ever mention or notice the small and smudged background picture in the office of the surveillance unit in this game, which players would have came across during the whole procedure, for about 2 minutes.
Five years it had hit the store shelves. NOBODY ever noticed it. NO player would have gained ANY entertainment experience from that picture in the game. Frankly, no one gives a damn about it - I don't mean the abduction case, but the said picture.
Now that the victim's mother drag people's attention to it, I'm going to find the exact section and watch it again. Other game players who had never hold any interest in this game would want to check it out. I guess this is more than market promotion manufactures and sellers could ever bargain for.
Now that's show business.
- Mudbear, Coventry, UK
