Two British children who lured two other youngsters to a secluded area and subjected them to a horrifying catalog of near-fatal abuse were sentenced to at least five years in detention.
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 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 defendants were among the youngest people ever charged with such a serious crime in Britain, where the age of criminal responsibility is 10. Though initially charged with attempted murder, prosecutors accepted guilty pleas to a lesser charge, causing grievous bodily harm.
Child welfare campaigners are calling for the Attorney General to double the sentence of the two brothers convicted in the case.
Detectives said the attackers showed no remorse when questioned by police. One allegedly told officers he did it because he was bored.
