Killer merchandise: Outrage as Myra Hindley t-shirts and iPhone cases sold on US website
An American website attempting to iconize British serial killer Myra Hindley by printing her image on a line of products has been forced to remove the range following an outcry.
Paul Nelson-Esch, the South African artist behind the design of t-shirts, pillowcases and iPhone covers emblazoned with the face of the infamous Moors Murderer, sold his sketches through art site Society6.
@society6 Care to explain why you are associating yourselves with a t-shirt of Myra Hindley? Have you no decency? It's grossly offensive
— Craig Spittle (@Pestilence79) April 25, 2016
Seriously, @society6 . Myra Hindley on a t shirt? There's edgy and then there's just wrong. Please reconsider. pic.twitter.com/dprgvJBkjW
— Lisa Pataridou (@MrsNavis) April 25, 2016
Myra Hindley and her then-partner Ian Brady gained notoriety for murdering five children during the 1960s and burying the the victims’ bodies on Saddleworth Moor in northern England.
I wonder why @PaulNelsonEsch's tweets are protected - because of this monstrosity? https://t.co/bq75kX66q3@society6 should be ashamed too
— KP (@kevpender) April 25, 2016
The artist and fashion designer who is now based in Portugal drew more conventional portraits of Woody Allen, Freddie Mercury and Bill Murray before his latest controversial project, which was branded “disgusting” by angry users on the seller’s page of Society6, according to The Telegraph.
Family members of a Moors Murder victim told the Manchester Evening News they felt “physically sick” after spotting the products online.
“The person selling this should be absolutely disgraced with themselves, also who would buy such things?” Jemma Leicester told the paper.
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Her husband is the nephew of John Kilbride, the second victim of the serial killers. The 12-year-old’s body was never found.
“I wonder if these people have children. How would they feel if their child was abducted, lied to, tortured, raped and left upon the cold moors?” Leicester added. “Would they want their killers printed on merchandise?”
Both Paul Nelson-Esch and Society6 have yet to comment on the public outcry.
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