'Asbos for children' in torture case area

South Yorkshire Police chief constable Meredydd Hughes has told local commanders to think about using Child Safety Orders (CSOs), which can impose restrictions on young children suspected of crime and anti-social behaviour.

The move follows criticism of the way authorities in South Yorkshire dealt with two brothers who carried out a sickening attack on boys aged nine and 10 in Edlington, near Doncaster, in April last year.

The brothers, whose family were known to Doncaster Council, were only aged 10 and 11 themselves when they subjected their victims to a 90-minute ordeal of violence and sexual humiliation.

At Sheffield Crown Court in January, they were given indeterminate sentences for public protection with a minimum term of five years.

They tried to challenge the sentences in the Court of Appeal in May, but their applications were rejected by a panel of judges led by the Lord Chief Justice, Lord Judge.

The three-day sentencing hearing was told the brothers watched ultra-violent movies as part of a "toxic home life" involving "routine aggression, violence and chaos". Their victims were choked, hit with bricks, made to eat nettles, stripped and forced to sexually abuse each other.

The attack ended when a piece of ceramic sink was dropped on the older boy's head, seriously injuring him. The younger victim was found wandering nearby drenched in blood.

Doncaster district commander Chief Supt Bob Sanderson said: "One of the tools available to tackle unruly children in a community are CSOs, which are effectively Asbos for children under the age of criminal responsibility.

"The use of CSOs would often be a last resort but nevertheless are an option in the most difficult cases to protect communities from harm caused by unruly youngsters."