The 2009 Child Murder Storyline was a cancelled storyline due to be transmitted in December 2009. The storyline was centered around Loretta Jones, and would reveal that she and her best friend had killed a girl when she was twelve years old and obtained a new identity.
Storyline[]
Loretta meets with Chrissy.
The storyline was first announced in late November 2009. Chrissy would manage to track Loretta down to a dance class in December 2009, calling her "Joanna Norman" and revealing that they bullied and eventually killed a girl when all were aged twelve. The pair since underwent psychiatric and behavioural treatment and lived under new identities. Chrissy would reveal that since her discharge, she would've married a man who left her when she miscarried their baby and turned to 'Joanna' for support. A few days after Chrissy's return, Loretta would flee the village by bus. Loretta's boyfriend Jake Dean was set to have a part in the storyline, but it was cut before any plot details were announced.
Controversy[]
The storyline immediately generated controversy due to the similarities with the 1993 Murder of James Bulger. Upon discovering the storyline, Bulger's mother Denise Fergus expressed her outrage for the storyline as she was not consulted beforehand. Fergus also pointed out that this was the third occurrence of a production similar to Bulger's death had been created without her knowledge (a play had been written by Niklas Rådström using transcripts had been performed in London in May 2009, whilst Australian crime drama City Homicide used real footage from the abduction as promotion in August 2009).
Fergus later met with executive producer Tony Wood and Lime Pictures managing director Sean Marley, where Fergus attended a private screening of four episodes containing the storyline. Fergus later said that she accepted that there was no intention to base the storyline off the death of Bulger, but still expressed her desire for the storyline not to air.
Cancellation & Aftermath[]
Following Fergus's expression of wishes for the storyline not to be aired, Tony Wood ordered the storyline to be scrapped, scripts to be amended to remove any mention and any pre-filmed scenes to be removed. This resulted in edits being made to Episode 2713 (16th December 2009) merely hours before transmission.
As the role of Chrissy had already been cast to Amber Hodgkiss, a new character of Caroline was created for the actress. The character appeared between March and April 2010 as the ex-nurse of Jake Dean, the boyfriend of Loretta.