A five-minute puppet show based on the crimes of notorious North-East child killer Mary Bell has provoked outrage.

Movie-maker Tony Hickson, 36, from Newcastle, says the short film is nothing more than an "animated children's fairytale". He hopes to have it shown on mainstream television.

But last night, the mother of one of the Bell's victims and support groups criticised the production.

Mary Bell was only ten when she strangled two toddlers, Martin Brown and Brian Howe, near her home in Scotswood, Newcastle, in the late 1960s.

Bell was convicted of manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility in 1968, but freed with lifetime anonymity in 1980.

Mr Hickson decided to use the murders as the basis for his film after remembering how his grandmother told him the story as a young boy.

The short film has been produced by his company, Killer Films, which is based in London.

Although the ten-minute film is completed, the soundtrack still needs a narration by a professional actor.

Mr Hickson said last night that he knew the film would be controversial.

"There will be an outrage and people will say it is sick," he said. "They will not like the subject matter, but it is about events that have happened, although it is not exact.

"It is an unusual topic, but I did not want to shy away from it and do something that did not mean anything."

Mr Hickson, an actor who has worked with circuses, said he was inspired by eastern European films of the 1950s that used puppets to tell fairytales, but wanted it to be real and personal to him.

He said: "It makes it more horrible and scary. I am not trivialising it at all, but original fairytales were quite dark and quite Gothic.

"It will be interesting to see what people think of my work and style. I am trying to sell it at the minute, but if Mary Bell approached me I would tell her where to go."

June Richardson, the mother of Martin Brown, Bell's first victim, was horrified to hear about the film.

She said: "It is disgusting that this person has not got in touch with the victims' families to tell them what he was doing.

"This is supposed to be for young people and children do not need to know about ten-year-olds killing children."

Paul Fawcett, from charity Victim Support, said: "I don't want to condemn this film out of hand without seeing it or knowing more about it, but if the victims' families are distressed, there is a real question about whether this should go ahead."

Mr Hickson approached Channel Four with his film, but a spokesman for the network said: "We certainly will not be taking this any further."

Both the BBC and ITV have said they cannot comment on the production until they are approached by Mr Hickson.

A BBC spokesman said: "We judge each work on its own merits."