Erik and Lyle Menendez will speak out on parents’ murders direct from prison in bombshell Netflix documentary

Warning: this article discusses sexual abuse which some readers may find distressing

Erik and Lyle Menendez, also known as The Menendez Brothers, are to tell their story in their own words from prison.

According to Tudum: "What emerges may not answer the many questions that still surround the case, but it does offer another perspective — that of the brothers themselves, provided in all-new audio interviews."

The documentary will be available to stream on 7 October.

The announcement follows the release of Ryan Murphy's Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story hitting Netflix on 19 September, a dramatised version of events which has been slammed by Erik Menendez for inaccuracies.

Monsters is a retelling of the crimes of Lyle and Erik Menendez who, in 1996, were sentenced to life in prison for the murder of their parents, José and Mary Louise 'Kitty' Menendez.

In 1989, José and Kitty were shot at their home 16 times with a gauge shot gun.

At the time of the murders, Lyle was 21 and Erik was 18.

While evading suspicion, the brothers were eventually arrested and the two went on to admit they had murdered their parents, alleging they faced a lifetime of sexual, emotional and physical abuse at the hands of their father, who threatened to kill them if they told anyone - and their mother knew but failed to protect them.

However, prosecutors argued that it was a cash-grab killing, as their parents were incredibly wealthy individuals.

Following the release of Monsters, Erik Menendez slammed the series from prison.

He said in a statement: "I believed we had moved beyond the lies and ruinous character portrayals of Lyle, creating a caricature of Lyle rooted in horrible and blatant lies rampant in the show," he penned in a statement.

"I can only believe they were done so on purpose. It is with a heavy heart that I say, I believe Ryan Murphy cannot be this naive and inaccurate about the facts of our lives so as to do this without bad intent.

Ted Soqui/Sygma via Getty Images

"It is sad for me to know that Netflix’s dishonest portrayal of the tragedies surrounding our crime have taken the painful truths several steps backward – back through time to an era when the prosecution built a narrative on a belief system that males were not sexually abused, and that males experienced rape trauma differently than women."

He added: "Those awful lies have been disrupted and exposed by countless brave victims over the last two decades who have broken through their personal shame and bravely spoken out.

"So now Murphy shapes his horrible narrative through vile and appalling character portrayals of Lyle and of me and disheartening slander. Is the truth not enough? Let the truth stand as truth.

"How demoralising to know one man with power can undermine decades of progress in shedding light on childhood trauma. Violence is never an answer, never a solution, and is always tragic.

"As such, I hope it is never forgotten that violence against a child creates a hundred horrendous and silent crime scenes darkly shadowed behind glitter and glamour and rarely exposed until tragedy penetrates everyone involved.

"To all those who have reached out and supported me. Thank you from the bottom of my heart."