Daily Star Admits Grand Theft Auto Rothbury Was Raoul Moat Fantasy

REMEMBER Jerry Lawton’s scoop that Raoul Moat was being immortalised in a version of Grand Theft Auto, the video game? The Daily Star sensed fury and outrage. Only, the story was utter nonsense.

READ: Raoul Moat Is Now A Video Game: Grand Theft Auto Rothbury (Pictures)

The Daily Star has published an apoligy – and it is wonderfully frank:

ROCKSTAR GAMES – GRAND THEFT AUTO – AN APOLOGY

On 21 July we published an article claiming that the video games company Rockstar Games were planning to release a version of their popular Grand Theft Auto video games series titled “Grand Theft Auto Rothbury”.

We also published what we claimed would be the cover of this game, solicited comments from a family member impacted by the recent tragedy and criticised Rockstar Games for their alleged plans.

Indeed. Sam Stobbart’s sister opined: “It is sick – it’s blood money. The game is beyond belief.”

We made no attempt to check the accuracy of the story before publication and did not contact Rockstar Games prior to publishing the story. We also did not question why a best selling and critically acclaimed fictional games series would choose to base one of their most popular games on this horrifying real crime event.

It is now accepted that there were never any plans by Rockstar Games to publish such a game and that the story was false. We apologise for publishing the story using a mock-up of the game cover, our own comments on the matter and soliciting critical comments from a grieving family member.

And for not saying it was a mock up, stating that the cover of Grand Theft Auto Rothbury had been shown on gaming websites?

We unreservedly apologise to Rockstar Games and we have undertaken not to repeat the claims again. We have also agreed to pay them a substantial amount in damages which they are donating to charity.

As apologies go, that’s as good as it gets…