'In these two boys, the building blocks that tell us what is right and wrong just weren't there'

THE TORTURERS

David Wilson insists he has never yet met a child who was born evil.

Throughout his long career, which has taken him from governor of Wormwood Scrubs, where some of the country's most violent prisoners are held, to professor of criminology and one of the leading experts in his field, he has trawled through countless psychiatric reports of those whose offences seem to many incomprehensible.

Last week, the senseless attack by two brothers, then 10 and 11 years old, on two boys in South Yorkshire were exposed in grim detail and by the end of the three-day hearing many were left wondering how those capable of such violence could ever be rehabilitated.

The reports talked of two boys for whom extreme violence and aggression was second nature and who had subjected their victims to degrading sexual acts and sadistic abuse for no other reason than their own sense of power and gratification.

During the 90 minute ordeal in an isolated spot in Edlington they made them eat nettles, burnt them with cigarettes and repeatedly threatened to kill them, safe in the knowledge no one would hear their victims' screams

The older boy told police the attack was a result of boredom and he only stopped because his arms were tired. The pair sat through most of the hearing with blank expressions. It was that chilling detachment and apparent lack of remorse, which for many of those involved in the case was the most truly frightening aspect.

The attack wasn't an isolated incident. The brothers had already committed a string of offences. Between them, they had headbutted and punched tutors at an education centre and the elder one also had a conviction for battery, a warning for attempted theft and a reprimand for assault occasioning actual bodily harm. A few days before they attacked the two boys, then nine and 11, in April last year,

they had also preyed on another 11-year-old boy.

On Friday, they were handed indeterminate sentences and were told they would serve a minimum of five years in one of the country's 18 secure units.

The judge acknowledged the victims and their families would no doubt prefer to see them locked up for much longer and many others are still struggling to comprehend how their violent nature can ever be tempered.

"There is a way back, absolutely there is," says Prof Wilson. "These two brothers are still relatively young and they can be re-educated. The important thing is that they have now been removed from the toxic environment in which they grew up. They are now somewhere they can learn the proper social models of behaviour.

"The younger brother has been described as a psychopath in the making and to reverse that is not something you can do overnight. However, they have been given indeterminate sentences and the minimum five years they will have to spend in a unit is a relatively long time to change their criminal tendencies."

During last week's hearing, the spotlight inevitably fell on the brothers' chaotic home life. One had watched ultra-violent horror films and pornography and from the age of nine he had smoked cannabis and regularly drunk cider. Both had also witnessed violence first hand, watching as their father sliced their mother's face with a knife.

Sadly many children grow up with feckless and unfit parents. Often they end up leaving school with few or no qualifications, others turn to petty crime, drugs and end up leading a life of long-term unemployment and broken relationships. Few, however, turn as violent as the brothers in the Edlington case.

"You have to think of it as a cocktail of factors," explains Prof Wilson, who is now based at the Centre for Criminal Justice Policy and Research at Birmingham City University. "A slight part of that cocktail exists in all our lives, in a much smaller proportion of children more of the factors are present and in a tiny minority all the elements come together.

"The brothers in the Edlington case grew up in an atmosphere of violence, they were allowed to do what they want and they had none of the usual checks and balances. Another significant factor was having been placed in foster care they were relative newcomers to the area. Children tend to be very good at policing their own community, they grow to know who the bad kids are and the people who are best avoided. However, because the brothers hadn't been living in Edlington long, their victims didn't have the informal knowledge which would have normally been built up. No one knew who they were and it meant they had much greater opportunity to indulge their aggressive and violent behaviour."

The brothers are now 11 and 12-years-old, an age when most children already have a clearly defined and instinctive sense of right and wrong. However, with the pair lacking any normal moral codes it will be up to a team of psychiatrists, educationists and counsellors to break down and rebuild their behaviour.

"It's a combination of looking backwards and looking forwards," says Prof Wilson. "The brothers will have to understand how they ended up in the position they did and that can only be achieved if they are willing to talk about their background and their family life.

"However, rehabilitation by its very nature also has to be about looking forward and getting them to learn new ways of engaging in society. This can all seem like therapy speak, but the process has to be two pronged. In the past they learnt to get their way and things they wanted by being violent and aggressive. In a secure unit that behaviour not only won't be tolerated, it will be challenged. If they are violent, they won't get their way and for perhaps the first time in their lives boundaries will be drawn. Of course, that process has to be properly monitored. They may abide by what we would think as normal rules for a week, two weeks, even a month, but they have to be continually tested to make sure they are not just paying lipservice, but have actually changed their ways."

That rehabilitation process has already begun and the barrister representing the younger of the two brothers said he was now a "likable and well-behaved young person" whose behaviour had "improved markedly" since the attack. The description seemed wholly at odds with the picture of the violent and out of control youngster which had already emerged, but Charles Garside QC insisted his young client was not pulling the wool over the eyes of adults charged with his care, but he had genuinely changed.

"In any case of this kind the perpetrators have to undergo numerous test to establish whether there is something psychologically amiss and to determine whether their criminal behaviour is the result of a personality disorder," says Claudette Deysel, criminologist and youth behaviour expert.

"The community has to be safeguarded and if there is no remorse and no understanding of what they have done, it is best for them to be kept out of society. However, in most cases there is a chance of rehabilitation and generally it is not good to lock children up with no prospect of release. There are various strands to rehabilitation. First there's what's known as diversion, or put more simply keeping people busy. Often children who commit crime have grown up without a purpose to life, they have been allowed to drift and come and go as they like. You have to show them that there is meaning to life.

"Incentive schemes are also used whereby they earn privileges for good behaviour. This isn't about bribery, but it is about showing them that bad behaviour only leads to dead ends.

"For most of us it's impossible to grasp how these brothers could have committed such violent acts, but the building blocks which tell us what's right and wrong just weren't there. They didn't exist and they have to be put in place by using cognitive therapy."

The Edlington case has inevitable seen parallels drawn between the brothers and the killers of James Bulger. Jon Venables and Robert Thompson were 10-years-old when they abducted two-year-old James from a Liverpool shopping centre before torturing and killing him.

The pair sp prison before the Lord Chief Justice, Lord Woolf ruled it would not benefit the boys to spend any more time in what he described as "the corrosive atmosphere" of a young offenders institute.

Given new identities and assured anonymity, they were released under life long supervision, forbidden from contacting each other or any members of the Bulger family and not allowed to enter Merseyside without permission. For some their rehabilitation was evidence of a successful criminal justice system, but for many their parole seemed premature.

"Research shows that real change can be seen in 18 months," adds Prof Wilson. "Of course every case is unique and rehabilitation may take much longer. However, children, even those who have committed the most appalling crimes, shouldn't be written off."

THE VICTIMS: Unseen scars take toll on children emerging from a nightmare

When children become the victims of crime, the repercussions often bubble underneath, only erupting months and sometimes years later. Following their ordeal, the two boys at the centre of the Edlington attack suffered nightmares and both are continuing to receive help for post traumatic stress.

The victims were uncle and nephew and while the elder boy suffered the worst physical injuries, including permanent hair loss, it is the younger boy who has struggled most emotionally.

Still burdened by the memories of leaving his uncle behind when he went to get help, his behaviour at school has deteriorated and the dreadful events of that April afternoon have put inevitable strain on the pair's friendship.

Both have the support of loving families, but all will have to live with the physical and emotional scars as well as the knowledge their attackers were well known to Doncaster Social Services and with the authority having missed 31 opportunities to intervene, their own ordeal was preventable.

"Children who experience trauma often don't have the social, psychological or developmental maturity to fully understand what has happened to them," says a spokesman for Victim Support. "They can become scared to be apart from their parents and need constant reassurance. Everyone reacts differently, but temper and mood swings are common and physical symptoms, such as tummy aches or feeling sick, can be an expression of their emotional pain.

"Youngsters can also be reluctant to go to school and can experience feelings of guilt, believing the traumatic event was their fault or they could somehow have prevented it from happening. Even though it may seem exaggerated to adults, that fear and anxiety is very real and after a traumatic event it is important for parents and family members to spend more time with them. If a child asks the same question repeatedly it's because they are trying to make sense out of their confusion. Routines should be kept as normal as possible and parents should also talk about their own feelings. If a child senses the adults in their life are secretly worried, they may be tempted to keep their own worries to themselves."

Having watched mobile phone footage of the attack and having heard in graphic details what happened to their sons, the court was told the victims' families have also been left with an undeserving yet strong sense of guilt.

"The first thing you have to do is recognise the traumatic events the victims and their families have gone through," adds Prof Wilson. "They have to be encouraged to talk about what happened when and whenever they want to.

"It somehow seems wrong to talk about money, but these are victims of a horrific crime and while compensation alone won't make the hurt go away, it does provide tangible recognition of what they went through.

"These children are likely to experience a lot of feelings of mistrust, so it's important to let them know how to make themselves safe in the future and how to deal with the fear. Children are resilient and while they will never forget what happened to them, they can learn to live with it."