When 14-year-old Stefan Pakeerah (left) was brutally murdered in 2004, there were claims that his killer, 17-year-old Warren LeBlanc, was inspired to commit the crime by playing the original Manhunt video game.
That position has largely been discredited over the years. A Scotland Yard investigation of the crime showed that, while Pakerrah himself owned a copy of the game, his killer did not.
Despite that finding, the Leicester Mercury reports that British Prime Minister Gordon Brown will meet with Stefan Pakeerah’s mother today to discuss their mutual concerns over violent video games.
The game violence issue is very much front-and-center in British politics these days as the Prime Minister’s government awaits the report of Dr. Tanya Byron, who has been studying the effects of games and the Internet on children. Byron’s report is due later this month.
Also meeting with Brown today are a pair of video game critics from Parliament, Keith Vaz and Julian Brazier. Vaz spoke of the Pakeerah murder:
Stefan was a young, innocent boy with a promising future. This was snatched from him in a gruesome and horrific attack. I want to discuss with the Prime Minister what can be done to stop these games being sold.
