Stop this play! Family launches campaign to block production around notorious Cannock Chase child killings

The petition has been started by Jemma Tift, from Willenhall, the niece of Diane Tift, the Bloxwich schoolgirl who was snatched as a five-year-old in the 1960s never to be seen alive again.

It is thought she was murdered at the hands of Raymond Morris from Walsall, along with Margaret Reynolds, six, of Aston, Birmingham, and Christine Darby, seven, from Caldmore.

All three bodies were found in close proximity to each other on Cannock Chase but Morris was only convicted of killing Christine Darby.

Although he denied involvement in any of the deaths up until he died behind bars in 2014.

But the notorious case has been cast back into the spotlight this week after Peter Sidgwick, chair of The Tower Players, announced the group will perform a play retelling the horrific events at the Prince of Wales Theatre in Cannock next May.

Mother-of-seven Jemma, aged 31, said she and her father, Terence Tift, 60, who was Diane’s brother, have been left devastated and she has now vowed to stop the production.

She said: “My dad was so upset. At first he didn’t say anything he was just in shock. Then he said ‘that can’t happen, how can anyone let that happen?’

“It is extremely insensitive.We are talking about three young girls who were brutally murdered by an evil man who had the audacity to not even say it was him.

“For all of this to be raked up again is heartbreaking.

“It has affected my dad every day of his life. It is always going to be just too raw. My dad was extremely close with her, really, really close. When it happened she went to her nan’s with my dad and on the way back she wanted to go to the park.

“He said she had to go home but she went to the park. He went home and told his mom and when they went back up there she had gone.

“It has affected him extremely badly. He regrets he left her. He wished he followed her and stayed with her.” Jemma, who is a HGV driver, has spoken with Peter directly requesting he cancel the play and has vowed to protest outside the theatre if does go ahead. She added: “I have always been aware of what happened I have grown up knowing all about it. She was my auntie, I looked exactly like her as a child. When people hear my name they always ask if I’m related. I have to take five minutes on my own to pull myself together.

“We speak about it all of the time.” Around 200 people have backed the petition including relatives of Margaret Reynolds who are also calling for the play to be stopped.

While more than 85 per cent of readers who have taken part in an Express & Star poll asking whether it should take place have saidthe story should not be dramatised.

Mr Sidgwick has defended the project called Morris: The Cannock Chase Murderer.

He said: "I went public about this out of courtesy to the relatives to let them know well in advance I was doing this, I have not tried to hide anything.

"There is nothing in the play that is not already in the public domain.

"There have been books, nationally broadcasted programmes and articles about it since.

"What is made abundantly clear in the play is the praise for the police in their diligence to stick with this case to the bitter end.

"And I feel it is very important that this serves as a reminder to all parents to be vigilant where there children are concerned if it doesn't do anything else.

"I am a parent and a grandparent and the last thing I want to do is cause upset and distress. I am not looking to sensationalise it and I am not doing this for commercial reasons.

"If people want to start a petition then that is their right."

Search 'Stop the play of The Cannock Chase Murders' on Change.org to view the petition.