'Disgusting': Vile TikToks show animated James Bulger tells viewers how he was murdered in disturbing new trend
29 July 2023, 09:32 | Updated: 29 July 2023, 10:36
Grim TikToks of children including James Bulger and Madeleine McCann are appearing, digitally altered to "inform" viewers about their cases in a vile new trend.
Listen to this article
Loading audio...
The mother of James Bulger blasted them as "absolutely disgusting" and called for the clips to be taken down.
In one video, a digitally altered video of her son sees his mouth move as he says: "Hello, my name is James Bulger."
The animation then tells viewers about his abduction and murder in 1993. The toddler was killed near a rail line and he is shown in the video near train tracks.
Children including Madeleine McCann and Baby P also appear in the videos, voiced with American accents or in other languages.
James's mother Denise Ferguson said: "It is one thing to tell the story, I have not got a problem with that. Everyone knows the story of James anyway.
"But to actually put a dead child's face, speaking about what happened to him, is absolutely disgusting. It is bringing a dead child back to life. It is wrong."
She told The Mirror: "To use the face and a moving mouth of a child who is no longer here, who has been brutally taken away from us, there are no words.
"I think these people must be disturbed. They have got to be. It is not just not nice for the parents to see. I don't think anyone at all should be able to see stuff like this.
"To see his little face moving when he is no longer here, it is disgusting. It all should be taken down and stopped. It is not fair on the people who have lost children, or lost anyone."
James Bulger was two years old when he was taken from a shopping centre in Merseyside and killed by Jon Venables and Robert Thompson, who were 10 at the time.
Venables has been sent back to prison twice for possessing child sex abuse images. Both had been released in 2001.
Denise's husband, Stuart, said he was tipped off about the videos by friends and relatives.
He managed to get in contact with one of the video makers, who appeared to be from the Philippines, but he was sent a dry reply when he asked for them to be taken down.
The producer said he did not mean to offend but wanted to ensure "incidents will never happen gain to anyone" before sickeningly asking: "Please continue to support and share my page to spread awareness."
TikTok said it had removed videos flagged to it. However, clips remained available to view on the app.
"We want TikTok to be a welcoming place for everyone, and there is no place for disturbing content of this nature. We continue to remove content of this nature as we find it," a spokesperson said.
