Torture brothers to serve minimum of five years in custody

TWO young brothers who tortured a nine-year-old and an 11-year-old boy were today sentenced to an indeterminate period in custody.

Mr Justice Keith told the pair, who are aged 11 and 12: "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 judge said: "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."

The judge told the brothers: "Your crimes are truly exceptional."

Sentencing them at Sheffield Crown Court, he told them they would serve a minimum of five years.

The judge had spent two days listening to harrowing accounts of how the boys, then aged 10 and 11, lured their victims to a secluded spot and subjected them to 90 minutes of violence and sexual humiliation in Edlington, South Yorkshire, in April last year.

The victims were strangled, hit with bricks, made to eat nettles, stripped and forced to sexually abuse each other.