Film about murder of James Bulger will be allowed to compete at the Oscars

James Bulger was abducted and killed in Merseyside
PA Archive/PA Images
Hatty Collier26 January 2019
WEST END FINAL

Get our award-winning daily news email featuring exclusive stories, opinion and expert analysis

I would like to be emailed about offers, event and updates from Evening Standard. Read our privacy notice.

A controversial short film about the murder of toddler James Bulger will be allowed to compete at the Oscars.

James' mother, Denise Fergus, had asked for Vincent Lambe's Detainment to be pulled from next month's ceremony after it was nominated in the best live action short category.

Mrs Fergus said she was haunted by some of the imagery in the film, especially re-enactments of James being led away by the hand by his killers Jon Venables and Robert Thompson.

Despite her pleas, the Academy has confirmed Detainment will remain in contention.

In a statement, it said: "The Academy offers its deepest condolences to Ms Fergus and her family. We are deeply moved and saddened by the loss that they have endured, and we take their concerns very seriously.

Jon Venables
PA

"Following long-standing foundational principles established to maintain the integrity of the awards, the Academy does not in any way influence the voting process.

"Detainment was voted on by Academy members. When making their choices, each individual applies their own judgment regarding the films' creative, artistic and technical merits.

"We understand that this will not alleviate the pain experienced by the family; however we hope it clarifies the Academy's neutral role in the voting process."

Robert Thompson murdered James Bulger when he was ten years old
PA

Two-year-old James was led away from a Merseyside shopping centre in 1993 - a moment captured on CCTV - by Venables and Thompson who then tortured and killed him.

They were arrested soon after and convicted following a 17-day trial at Preston Crown Court and ordered to be detained at Her Majesty's pleasure, the normal substitute sentence for life imprisonment when the offender is a juvenile.

Trial judge Mr Justice Morland told the pair they had committed a crime of "unparalleled evil and barbarity".

Detainment follows the events surrounding the murder, and is comprised of re-enactments based on the transcripts from police interviews with Venables and Thompson.

Lambe said: "The public opinion at the moment now is that those two boys were simply evil and anybody who says anything different or gives an alternate reason as to why they did it, or tries to understand why they did it, they get criticised for it.

"I think we have the responsibility to try and make sense of what happened."

The Academy Awards take place in Los Angeles on February 24.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in