Victory! Controversial Raymond Morris play axed after campaign

Peter Sidgwick, chair of the Tower Players, had sparked uproar by announcing he had penned a production around murderer Raymond Morris, who was convicted of killing Christine Darby, aged seven from Caldmore, but highly suspected to have claimed the lives of five-year-old Diane Tift, from Bloxwich, and Margaret Reynolds, six, from Aston, Birmingham, whose bodies were found nearby.

But having spoken with heartbroken relatives of the victims he has decided to cancel the play and apologised for any distress caused.

The 70-year-old former teacher said he was particularly moved after talking to Susan Upton, aged 63, who is Margaret Reynold's older sister.

Mr Sidgwick said: "She was incredible. She spoke so calmly, so measured and so movingly, she absolutely blew me away.

"I have told her that I am no longer going to proceed. I didn't feel I had any option.

"I am quite clear that it is the end of it. It is the right decision.

"Obviously I thought it was a story of interest to the people of Cannock but it is not as important as the wishes of these people.

"I am profoundly sorry if I caused any upset to members of the families, it was never my intention.

"I simply wanted to tell a story worth telling and had been told before."

Giving her reaction to the Express & Star, Ms Upton said: "We are very relieved he is not going ahead. To him it's a story but to us it is our lives we live every single day. I just tried to get across how it affected us as a family and he was very responsive to that.

"He hadn't realised and I don't think you can unless you have gone through it yourself."

Mr Sidgwick also spoke with Jemma Tift, aged 31 from Willenhall and the niece of Diane Tift, who had started a campaign to block the play gaining more than 400 backers in two days.

She had previously told how her father Terence, Diane's brother, had been left distraught at the thought of the production.

Ms Tift said: "I am just overwhelmed he is cancelling it.

"Mr dad is really happy. To anyone else who thinks about doing a play or something about it I will fight it. The reaction from everyone was absolutely brilliant. This is a real victory."

The play was set to be held at the Prince of Wales theatre in Cannock in May. More than 85 per cent of Express & Star readers who took part in our poll believed it to be an unsuitable story to dramatise.