4.9.09 Aged 10 and 11 these brothers were already known to be sadistic thugs. So, why were they free to torture two innocent boys? | | Stampa | |
da "www.dailymail.co.uk" By Paul Harris, Fay Schlesinger and Arthur Martin Aged just ten and 11, the two sadistic brothers were already well known to police and social services. The case brought to an end a shocking three-year rampage of violence and intimidation that the brothers conducted under the noses of police and social workers. It culminated in the sickening attack carried out in April this year, when they left a nine-year-old boy battered and bleeding and his 11-year-old companion pleading: 'Leave me, I can't see. Leave me to die.' The younger of the pair was on bail, his accomplice was being 'monitored' by a youth offending team after being placed on a supervision order. CHARTER OF HORROR The case has inevitably underlined chilling similarities with that of two-year-old James Bulger, killed in 1993 by two boys aged ten. Their victims had been hit with sticks and bricks after being lured to a 'desolate' spot called Brick Ponds with the promise of seeing foxes and toads near the former pit village of Edlington, near Doncaster. A noose was recovered from the scene. The younger boy was burned with a cigarette on his eyelids and ear. He had a sharp stick rammed into his arm and cigarettes pushed into a gaping wound, which eventually required plastic surgery. The elder victim was left unconscious, freezing cold, half naked and fighting for life at the foot of a wooded ravine. The nine-year-old limped back to Edlington, covered from head to toe in blood and bare foot after losing a shoe. He pleaded for help from a couple who raised the alarm. The father of the 11-year-old found his son '30 minutes from death' in the ravine. An air ambulance crew took more than an hour to stabilise him before he could be moved. Both boys recovered, but only after the older one spent two days on a ventilator. The authority has already been heavily criticised over its 'inadequate' record after seven children died in its care and has been described by Children's Secretary Ed Balls as having 'serious weaknesses'. They were due to be interviewed about it at a police station on April 4 but they did not turn up. Instead, they attacked their two new victims. 'A history of violence' The two attackers are reported to have a long history of anti-social behaviour. The pair reported returned a few days later and lit a bonfire next to the gas pipe leading into the cafe, causing £5,000 of damage before it was put out by firemen.
But, thanks to the wonders of modern medicine coupled with an extraordinary display of spirit, the two young boys left for dead by their laughing torturers have made an astonishing recovery. Beaten to a pulp and forced to perform sex acts on each other, the innocence of a nine-year-old boy and his 11-year-old companion was shattered on a sunny Saturday last April. Paramedics summoned an air ambulance. He was just 30 minutes from death. In hospital, the elder boy had so many bruises that his parents were unable to hug him. He was petrified when strangers walked into the ward. Surrounded by family and friends, their deep cuts and bruises healed quickly - although the elder boy needed plastic surgery. Incredibly, they are now back at school, bearing the scars of the attacks. The elder boy has a bald patch at the back of his head where the porcelain sink was dropped on him. The other has a scar that runs along the base of his chin on the right-hand side of his face. The 11-year-old comes from a large working-class family. His mother died of cancer in her thirties when he was only one. His father went on to marry again. The younger boy's mother is a housewife and his father works in a local shop. Last night the elder boy's 44-year-old father insisted the attackers deliberately tried to kill the boys by tying barbed wire from one tree to another to strangle them. His testimony is a sobering one. 'He had holes all over his head,' he said. 'He was cut from his head to his feet. At first he could not see. He was blinded from where they smashed him over his head and from stamping on his face. 'If he had been left for another half an hour, in my opinion, it would have been too late.' During his ordeal, he begged pitifully: 'Leave me, I can't see. Leave me to die.' His father told how the 11-year-old ended up looking like something from a 'Freddy Krueger film'. The father fears that the degrading two-hour violent and sexual attack has left his son 'mentally scarred for life'. He is eternally grateful, however, for the nine-year-old's actions in seeking help for the elder boy after limping back to the village on April 4. The 11-year-old's father said: 'If it were not for him my son would be dead. If it was not for his courage and the physical strength he had left in him to get out of there - they both would have died.' As paramedics pulled his son from the ravine, the first words he uttered were: 'I'm freezing.' His father said: 'I was crying and shouting, "I'm going to kill them" - but all I really cared about was that the boys were safe.' He was 'shattered' when he saw the injuries on his son, a timid boy whose main loves are football and maths puzzles. As his father held him, medics washed away the blood and mud. However, as the skin was cleaned, they kept finding more gashes and cuts. His father added: 'He remembers bits but there is stuff he doesn't want to remember. He was able to describe the boys to the police. 'I told him, just give them enough to make sure those boys stay locked up.' At first, the 11-year-old was so traumatised by the attack he cried at the sight of strangers. Yet before the nightmare on April 4, both victims were often spotted with fishing rods under their arms, talking about Manchester United. They preferred to be outdoors, rather than cooped up in front of a video game. Although fears remain about the long-term psychological impact of the attack, the families of the pair were keen to mark yesterday as the start of a new chapter in their lives. However, the desire for justice remains. Last night the families of the boys called for the judge to impose lengthy sentences after the attackers pleaded guilty.
The two tormentors convicted yesterday used to watch the same horror films as Robert Thompson and Jon Venables, the killers of James Bulger, it emerged last night.
|