Young brothers jailed for 'sadistic' attack

January 22, 2010

Fri Jan 22, 8:54 AM

LONDON (AFP) - Two young brothers were jailed for at least five years on Friday

for a " sadistic " attack on a pair of fellow youngsters which shocked the country

and fuelled a political row.

The brothers, aged 11 and 12, were convicted of torturing and assaulting a

nine-year-old and an 11-year-old boy in the South Yorkshire town of Edlington,

near Doncaster, last April.

The court heard harrowing details of how the pair lured their victims to a

secluded spot before forcing them to strip and sexually abuse each other,

attacking them with bricks, strangling them and making them eat nettles.

" 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, " said the judge,

sentencing them to an indeterminate jail term, but of at least five years.

" Your crimes are truly exceptional, " he said at Sheffield Crown Court, adding:

" 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. "

Neither the attackers nor their victims can be named.

The case -- which been compared to the 1993 murder of two-year-old Bulger

by two 10-year-old boys in Liverpool -- has fueled debate about youth crime and

social policy in Britain.

The court heard how the brothers watched ultra-violent movies as part of a

" toxic home life " of " routine aggression, violence and chaos, " while one of them

smoked cannabis from the age of nine and drank cider.

Conservative leader Cameron raised the case with Prime Minister Gordon

Brown in the House of Commons earlier this week, calling for a serious case

review into the attacks to be published in full.

Brown -- fighting to avoid ouster in elections due by June -- insisted that

authorities would learn the lessons from the case.

While calling the attacks " one of the most tragic cases we could see, " he said:

" I do not want Britain to be defined by the appalling violence and

irresponsibility that's been shown to the youngsters by two other youngsters. "

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