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Brothers detained for 'appalling' torture

By Channel 4 News

Updated on 22 January 2010

Two brothers who brutally attacked two young boys in a village near Doncaster have been sentenced to an indeterminate period in custody, and told they will serve a minimum of five years.

Edlington, South Yorkshire

The brothers, aged 10 and 11 at the time, attacked their victims in Edlington, South Yorkshire, last April.

The judge, Mr Justice Keith, heard how the brothers threatened to kill their victims, then aged nine and 11, stamped on them and attacked them with broken glass, bricks and sticks.

One victim was forced to strip naked and perform a sex act and a metal ring was used to strangle one boy.

They later told police they had only stopped hitting their victims because their "arms were aching".

Although the boys eventually admitted much of what they had done in the brutal attack, which happened on waste ground near the former pit village south of Doncaster, they showed no apparent remorse, Sheffield Crown Court was told.


The older brother could give no other reason for the attack than to say there was "nowt to do".

The brothers, who cannot be named for legal reasons, admitted causing grievous bodily harm with intent.

They also each pleaded guilty to robbing one of the boys of a mobile phone and the other of cash and had admitted two counts of intentionally causing a child to engage in sexual activity.

The judge said: "The fact is this was prolonged, sadistic violence for no reason other than that you got a real kick out of hurting and humiliating them.

"The bottom line for the two of you is that I'm sure you both pose a very high risk of serious harm to others."

"Your crimes are truly exceptional," he added. Sentencing them at Sheffield Crown Court, he told them they would serve a minimum of five years.

Speaking to the brothers about their background, he added: "You never had any guidance at home about the way you should behave. You come from a dysfunctional family where the environment has been described as 'toxic' and the adults were hardly role models."

He continued: "You were never taught what the proper boundaries were, your bad behaviour was never confronted in the family."

Mr Justice Keith handed the boys concurrent sentences on all the charges they admitted.

For causing the two boys grievous bodily harm with intent, they were sentenced to detention for public protection with a minimum term of five years.

They were each handed 24 months' detention for the offences of causing a child to engage in sexual activity and 18 months' detention for the offences of robbery against the two boys.

For the offence of assault occasioning actual bodily harm on the first 11-year-old boy in March last year, they were each sentenced to 30 months' detention.

They were each placed on the sex offenders register for a period of three and a half years but the judge said the case was not appropriate to make any sexual offences prevention orders.

Detective Superintendent Mick Mason, who led the investigation into the attack, said: "This is clearly the most traumatic investigation I have ever come across. Not the most difficult - but the most traumatic.

"I think (the brothers) understood what they'd done. Whether the gravity had sunk in then, I don't know. Whether it's sunk in to them since, I don't know.

"From what I'm told, they didn't show any remorse during interview."

The families of the young victims issued a statement through South Yorkshire Police, in which they said the events of April last year "rocked our lives".

"We have found the last nine months to have been an extremely difficult and testing time," the statement said.

"Hearing the evidence in court during these past three days has also been deeply upsetting for us all.

"However we would like to thank everyone involved in providing support to us during this time."

They also appealed for privacy.

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