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The mother of murdered toddler James Bulger has condemned a play about one of her son's killer and accused the writer of cashing-in on his death.
Angry Denise Fergus described Scottish playwright Des Dillon of "scraping the bottom of the barrel" with his play "Village of the Dammed" and called for a boycott of it.
Dillon's script is based around a ficticious version of aftermath of Robert Thompson's release into society under a false identity.
The setting is a Scottish village where Thompson character's true identity is discovered when he commits crimes that sicken the locals.
The play savagely satirises the role of the police role in protecting a killer released on life licence and questions who is responsible when villagers end-up charged with offences.
"Village of the Damned" has not yet had its opening night but Dillon claims film studio bosses are keen to acquire the rights to make a Hollywood blockbuster.
It takes its name from a low-budget sci-fi film from 1960 about a village called Midwich, a small English town, where children have terrifying psychic powers.
But James' mother pledged to oppose any attempt to make a cinema movie based around the murder of her son.
Mother-of-three Denise 43, said: "This play is scraping the botton of the barrel. It's nothing more than a cheap and nasty attempt to cash-in on the murder of my son.
"I've no idea what's in the script and I don't want to know because it's clearly using the memory of James as an excuse for trying to sell theatre tickets.
"I would like to see people treat this with the contempt it deserves by boycotting it.
"James's memory should not be exploited like this. He was my son, a real person, a precious little boy who was cruelly abducted and murdered just weeks before his third birthday.
"Every time James' murder is brought-up like this it rubs salt in the wounds for me and my family.
"The person who wrote this play must have no respect. What happened to James, and his memory, should not be regarded as public property, to be used for entertainment.
"To be shouting about how good this play is and touting it to Hollywood before the ink is dry on the script demonstrates the true motives of those involved in promoting it.
"This man is just trying to line is pockets and he does not care what harm he does or what hurt he inflicts. It's sickening."
Two year-old James Bulger was led away from the Strand Shopping Centre in Bootle by two 10 year-old boys in 1993.
His killers Robert Thompson and Jon Venables spent eight years in custody and were released to live under legally protected false identities in 2010.
Dillon, who claims to have have won an award for another play in the Ukraine, has defended his decision to write "Village of the Damned".
The 52 year-old, who lives in Galloway, south-west Scotland, said: "The murder of James Bulger was a big thing, it was horrific.
"Those two boys stamped a punctuation mark on culture.
"I'm not a religious man but I prayed for his family that day and the events after it, there were lots of children in my family at the time running around and it was an incredibly sad time.
"My play is fiction but I used Thompson as the basis of the central character because he is the most notorious criminal in the country to be given a new identity and released into society.
"I'm exploring what would happen if he was placed in a small Scottish village, which isn't too far from the truth where I live.
"Galloway is a notorious dumping ground for protected offenders and the police and the courts favour protecting these criminals instead of innocent people.
"A friend of mine was attacked and stabbed so I ran after the guy who did it but I was the one who ended up getting prosecuted. It's a joke.
Mr Dillon also told how he had been questioned by police in his home town after a man complained the play's main character was based on him.
He added: "The police came round days after I posted the play on the internet and asked me if it was this guy, or that guy, or this guy.
"I shook my head and said 'no', the play is based on Robert Thompson and it is a fictional story with fictional characters.
"Plays have been written about controversial subjects for centuries and you can't lock me up for that.
"It would be a mad state of affairs if I was. I'd be the first writer to be arrested for a play in 300 years in Britain."
* In December 1993 Robert Thompson and Jon Venables became the youngest persons ever to be convicted of murder in the UK.
Venables and Thompson were sentenced to life imprisonment and, after being detained in secure accommodation, both were released on parole in 2001.
Thompson, now 29, lives at a secret address in the UK under his new identity and there is no record of his having re-offended.
Venables was recalled to prison and remains behind bars after pleading guilty to child pornography offences in 2010.
Denise Fergus has called for Venables to be revert to his real name following his breach of parole.
In 2010 Fleetwood, Lancashire, 27-year-old David Calvert became the target of a Facebook hate campaign wrongly identifying him as Venables.
Neighbours suggested he resembled the infamous mug shot of Venables and he was forced to go into hiding. He now lives in Ellesmere Port, Cheshire.
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