The father of murdered toddler James Bulger says he is “offended” by a film documenting the death of his beloved son, claiming it’s too sympathetic to the boys who took his child’s life.
Full of anger and disappointment, Ralph Bulger spoke openly to The Mirror about his frustration in the movie Detainment and the possibility it could be up for an Academy Award in February.
Bulger admitted while he has seen many documentaries and news stories about the death of James over the past 26 years, Detainment takes things to another level. The short drama is based solely on police interviews with 10-year-old murderers Jon Venables and Robert Thompson.
“I have never been so cut up and offended by something that shows so little compassion to James and his family,” he told The Mirror.
“I accept this is a murder of such magnitude it will always be written about and featured in the news but to make a film so sympathetic to James’ killers is devastating.”
Bulger went on to say how he would have liked to at least be contacted about the documentary when it was in the planning stages. He said it will be “horrific” if it ends up winning an Oscar, as has been predicted.
This isn’t the first time Bulger has spoken out about the kidnapping and murder of his son from a Liverpool shopping centre in 1993.
Last year the dad was left outraged after hearing in a documentary James Bulger: The New Revelations that one of his son’s killers, Thompson, claimed he had a “better life” because of the murder.
As part of the documentary the statement Thompson gave to the Parole Board in 2001 before he was released from prison and given a new identity was revealed for the first time.
While Thompson admitted he’s ashamed of what he did, he also said it made him a better person because “he had a better life and better education” after spending eight years in detention.
“I do feel aware that I am now a better person and have had a better life and a better education than if I had not committed the murder,” he said, according to the Daily Mail. “There is obviously an irony to this but it is part of my remorseful feelings as well.”
The comments didn’t sit well with Bulger, who told the publication he thought his son’s killers had be rewarded and not punished for their horrific crime.
Read more: Outrage as Bulger killer says he had a ‘better life’ for murdering toddler
“The message here is horrific – kill a child and you will get a privileged and cosy life in return,” he told the Daily Mail.
He added that he didn’t think his son’s murderers had been properly punished and they had instead received a first-class education, counsellors and therapists from behind bars, while his family was “thrown to the wolves with our grief”.
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