UK charities demanding heavier sentencing for ‘sadistic torture’
Children’s charities in Britain have demanded that the minimum jail term handed down on Friday for two young brothers found guilty of torturing innocent boys “for kicks” be doubled to 10 years. Campaigners have vowed to appeal to the Attorney General, Baroness Scotland, to demand that the brothers should not be released for a decade.
The pair – defined by media as “young monsters”, now aged 11 and 12, were given indeterminate sentences but were told that they will be eligible for release after serving a minimum of five years in prison.
The news of the attack shocked Britain, while the matter has also triggered a political row between the ruling Labour government and the Conservative opposition on “failed polices to safeguard family values and child welfare.”
According to the charities, after 10 months on remand, it could mean that the two convicted boys could be free in just over four years to sit their GCSE exams.
The sentence prompted fury from the victims’ parents at Sheffield Crown Court, who until then had exercised strict media silence.
The mother of the younger victim hammered on the window separating her from the defendants and screamed: ‘You evil bastards’ as they were led out of court.
Families had to listen for three days, as graphic details about how the children – aged nine and 11 – were brutalised in a wooded ravine by the accused.
Campaigners have said they intend to challenge the jail term, amid fears the prospect of their release while they are still teenagers, will be too traumatic for their victims.
Michelle Elliott from charity Kidscape said the boys deserved the security of knowing their tormentors could not be freed for at least a decade.
“I’m grateful for the indeterminate sentence, but I would have urged a 10-year minimum before they are assessed for release. I will be appealing to Baroness Scotland. Several groups will be doing just the same,” she said.
There is also the prospect of a second court case related to the boys case after police said the reckless parents of the two brothers could themselves also be prosecuted.
Detectives will examine revelations of violence, drug and alcohol abuse with a view to bringing child neglect charges.
Now the drug-addict mother and violent alcoholic father, who allowed the brothers to smoke cannabis, drink cider and view pornography from the age of nine could follow their sons into the dock.
The couple have since split up and the boys were in foster care at the time of the attack.
Acting Superintendent Ian Bint said officers would study evidence from the case to see if the parents could have a case to answer.
But senior sources at the Crown Prosecution Service warned it would be ‘very difficult’ to prosecute the parents for neglect and new witnesses would need to be found.
The victims were out riding their bikes last April when they were lured by the brothers to the secluded ravine at Edlington, near Doncaster, and viciously assaulted for 90 minutes.
When arrested, the boys allegedly told police that they carried out the attack because they were bored with ‘nowt to do’.
Their young victims were throttled with cable, punched and kicked in the head, and battered with branches, bricks and rocks.
They were forced to eat nettles, crawl across a stream and commit humiliating sex acts on each other. Plastic sheeting was put over them and set alight and they were cut with barbed wire. One boy had a lit cigarette pushed into an open wound.
Police said the torturers, who attacked another boy days before the torture incident, had still shown no remorse.
On passing sentence, the Judge told the brothers: “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. I’m sure you both pose a very high risk of serious harm to others.”
The parents of the victims asked the judge to allow the brothers to be publicly identified, but he ruled against them, stating they could be harmed in custody and their rehabilitation might ‘not progress’ if they were named and shamed.
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