Attack brothers to be sentenced

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Two young brothers who brutally attacked two boys in South Yorkshire are due in court as a hearing gets under way to determine their sentences.

The brothers, aged 10 and 12, who cannot be named, have admitted causing grievous bodily harm with intent.

They lured their victims, aged nine and 11, to a ravine in Edlington in April 2009, before attacking them with bricks and dropping a sink on one boy's head.

The hearing at Sheffield Crown Court is expected to last three days.

A BBC investigation has already revealed that the two attackers were well known troublemakers and that social services were heavily involved in their lives.

ANALYSIS Danny Savage, BBC North of England correspondent

The sentencing hearing for the two brothers responsible for the horrific attack in Edlington last April will not look like a normal courtroom case.

The judge and the barristers involved will not be wearing their wigs and gowns, instead they will be in normal suits and will keep their language as simple as possible so the two children at the centre of the hearing can follow what is going on.

The judge is also likely to go out of his way to explain the proceedings to the two boys as they go along because the next three days at Sheffield Crown Court will influence where their young lives go from here.

The court has already been told they are responsible for a "grave" crime but - if their last appearance was anything to go by - it is hard to tell if the reality and seriousness of what they did has dawned on them.

But for all the children involved - and their families - the traumatic and shocking events in a field on the edge of an old pit village last spring will cast a shadow over their lives for many years to come.

A Safeguarding Children Board report, seen by BBC Newsnight, found the attack could have been prevented.

The shadow children's minister, Tim Loughton, has said that the full findings of a report into the attack should be published to show lessons have been learned.

Doncaster Council said an executive summary would be published on Friday, in line with government legislation.

The brothers were arrested on 4 April after the younger victim, covered in blood, escaped and raised the alarm.

The victims had met their attackers as they played football in a park.

They were lured away by the brothers, who promised they would show them a toad they had found, but instead they were subjected to a horrific assault.

The older boy had a sink dropped on his head. One boy had a noose put around his head and one was burned with a cigarette on his eyelids and ear.

The younger boy had a sharp stick rammed into his arm and cigarettes pushed into the wound.

He also tried to ram a stick down his own throat after he was told to "go away and kill himself" by one of his attackers.

The pair, who were both seriously injured, had bricks thrown at them and were repeatedly stamped on.

The nine-year-old managed to stagger to a nearby house to raise the alarm, covered in blood from wounds to his head and arm.

The 11-year-old boy was later discovered unconscious in the nearby wood.

The brothers have each pleaded guilty to robbing one of the boys of a mobile phone and the other of cash.

They also admitted two counts of intentionally causing a child to engage in sexual activity.

Attempted murder charges over the attack were dropped by prosecutors.

The brothers were later charged with attempted grievous bodily harm with intent and making a threat to kill in connection with a separate attack on another 11-year-old boy in Doncaster a week earlier.

The pair had denied these offences, but each have pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of assault occasioning actual bodily harm.