GUILTY UK - Brothers, 10 & 12, for sexual assault of 2 boys, Edlington, South Yorks, 2009

[White Rain]

Unbelievable. Sadly I do think these two boys will do something like this again in the future. Very scary.


Two brothers aged 10 and 12 who tortured and sexually humiliated two boys were spared trial for attempted murder yesterday when prosecutors decided to accept their guilty pleas to lesser charges.
The brothers pleaded guilty to robbing, sexually abusing and intentionally causing grievous bodily harm to their victims, aged 9 and 11, during a pre-planned attack of extreme, sadistic violence that has drawn parallels with the murder of James Bulger and to assaulting another boy a week earlier. The Crown Prosecution Service said that it had accepted the lesser charges to save the victims from having to relive their ordeal in court and said that the brothers would still face the same maximum term of life imprisonment.
The attack happened in April, 25 days after the brothers had been taken into care and placed with a foster family in the mining village of Edlington, South Yorkshire.
more: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,546515,00.html?test=latestnews

 

[roller26]

OMG! Horrible! These boys are very dangerous.

"On the day of the attack the brothers had been due to attend a police station to be questioned about an assault on an 11-year-old boy a week earlier. His mother had reported the incident immediately. The police have been criticised for not acting more urgently.

Doncaster social services had had extensive contact with the brothers over many years. It said that a serious case review was under way and refused to comment further."
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/crime/article6821037.ece

my thoughts and prayers go out to the two victims

 

[missacorah]

''The court heard that the younger boy had tried to kill himself on the instructions of his attackers by shoving a sharpened stick down his throat after having the same stick driven into his arm and a lit cigarette pushed into the wound. The brothers had burnt his ears and eyelids.''

The poor little love! Can you imagine having to think along those lines at that age to escape your attackers?Some really shocking details in this case.I think it goes without saying that we're gonna hear a whole lot more of these two boys.

 

[southcitymom]

Heartbreaking case. I found this comment someone left after the article worth considering:

"The brothers perpetrated serious crimes. The question is why? We have been told that they were virtually abandoned by their mother who is a drug addict: their father – when he was around – is a violent alcoholic. Their home life has been appalling.

Anyone who has seen Lord of the Flies knows what happened to these boys. They were not only abandoned and mal-treated by their parents, but they were let down by their schools, the social services and society in general. They became feral.

No one has taken responsibility for supporting them until it was far too late. As hard as it is to bear, they deserve some sympathy. The society around them needs to take the responsibility that this has happened again."

It sounds like these children didn't stand much of a chance. I pray that they will get some help along with whatever sentence is meted out. My prayers for everyone torn apart by this assault.

 

[SewingDeb]

SCM, I hate to say it but I think these two are beyond help...maybe when they were 5 and 7 it might have helped. Their parents have created monsters by their own actions or inactions.

 

[southcitymom]

SCM, I hate to say it but I think these two are beyond help...maybe when they were 5 and 7 it might have helped. Their parents have created monsters by their own actions or inactions.

I hear you, SD, but I am incapable of giving up on a 10 and 12 year old! I know lots of adults who had brutal childhood from which they were able to heal.

 

[Kymistry35]

I agree with SD, I don't think these boys can be saved. While I feel sad for what they went through, they are old enough to know what they were doing was harmful and hurtful to the other children. I think both of them are sociopaths and need to be keep locked away so that they cannot harm any other kids.

 

[lizzybeth]

I was appalled at the comments defending these boys because of their lack of love and stability. It takes a seriously evil person (especially a young person) to do what these boys did. What scares me is that even though they say they will spend a lifetime in prison, the boys that attacked the little Bulger boy were let out, and have started new lives, no less, with new names.

 

[MomofBoys]

Mulder said something on the X Files once:

"Some killers are products of society. Some act out past abuses.
[he] kills because he likes it. "

As sad as it is, as tragic as it is, and as much as it pains me as a mother, I truly believe some kids are broken. We could go back and forth about nature v. nurture, but I can't believe all of this is because of upbringing or a lackthereof. There are many, many kids who are ignored, abused, and abandoned in this world who have gone on to be doctors, community leaders, law enforcement, and great parents. There has to be a fundamental psychological difference in children who work toward a better life, and children who descend into the deepest depths of sociopathy.

It sounds awful to basically advocate throwing these kids away, but at what point do you try to fix people capable of something so heinous if you're not so sure they're not breaking other children? Does anyone think those two little boys will EVER get over what happened to them? Completely? Can society risk such cruelty and sadism again?

Lock them up. Give them meds and therapy if the system can afford it, but throw away the key.

 

[SuziQ]

These kids may have started off their childhood as victims, but they stopped being a victim the moment they became a perp. Once that line is crossed, there is no going back. Most pedophiles are products of their own childhood experiences and can't be cured.

 

[bamabeauty]

This saddens me to no end as I have 13 and 8 year old sons. There is no doubt that their upbringing contributed to this but having 3 kids 13,10 and 8 I know at this age these boys knew to an extent the harm they were inflicting and it is inexcusable. I do not think there is any turning these boys around. I strongly believe left out they would continue this pattern of vile behavior.

 

[Mr. E]

Mulder said something on the X Files once:

"Some killers are products of society. Some act out past abuses.
[he] kills because he likes it. "

As sad as it is, as tragic as it is, and as much as it pains me as a mother, I truly believe some kids are broken. We could go back and forth about nature v. nurture, but I can't believe all of this is because of upbringing or a lackthereof. There are many, many kids who are ignored, abused, and abandoned in this world who have gone on to be doctors, community leaders, law enforcement, and great parents. There has to be a fundamental psychological difference in children who work toward a better life, and children who descend into the deepest depths of sociopathy.

It sounds awful to basically advocate throwing these kids away, but at what point do you try to fix people capable of something so heinous if you're not so sure they're not breaking other children? Does anyone think those two little boys will EVER get over what happened to them? Completely? Can society risk such cruelty and sadism again?

Lock them up. Give them meds and therapy if the system can afford it, but throw away the key.

I couldn't have said it better, and you are my hero for quoting X-Files. :clap:

 

[impatientredhead]

These boys sadly are not likely to be rehabilitated.
They clearly do not have the capacity for empathy.
And they are years beyond the critical window of time to learn it.

They will either learn to mimic it so they can gain whatever freedoms are made available to them. Or they will learn from the other criminals they end up locked up with, where they will be further victimized and become more and more sadistic. I don't see any happy ending to this one personally.

Their parents should be hauled in on the same charges. I have said it before but if I house or create a vicious dog with no regard for others wellbeing and it viciously mauls my neighbor I am responsible for that situation. This should be no different.

 

[GeorgieFayne]

It's a sad and terrible story and I'm sure that some of the fault lies in the upbringing of these boys. But plenty of children have horrible childhoods and grow up to be kind and caring adults. Others grow up to act out in various ways. This is to an extreme that makes me believe these kids would have done something awful even if they were raised by Mr. Rogers. I'm sorry to be cynical, but this is horrendous.

 

[Cicada]

What stuck out to me is that in the video, it was said that the 9 yr old heard the boys say they would go to prison for this. In the court room, they grinned at each other. They had only been in town 3 wks, assaulted another child just the week before. They knew what they were doing; the article even said it was premeditated. I am sorry, but if I were the victims' parent, I would be so enraged at the lesser charges. This went way beyond just "..intentionally causing grievous bodily harm to their victims...". I hope and pray to God that the victims get the help they need to overcome this horror.

 

[Fairy1]

It's a sad and terrible story and I'm sure that some of the fault lies in the upbringing of these boys. But plenty of children have horrible childhoods and grow up to be kind and caring adults. Others grow up to act out in various ways. This is to an extreme that makes me believe these kids would have done something awful even if they were raised by Mr. Rogers. I'm sorry to be cynical, but this is horrendous.

I have to agree with you. These boys are guilty of vicious crimes that included unspeakable torture. I'm sorry they've had such a difficult time growing up, but the horrific nature of their crimes indicate to me that they cannot be fixed.

I will pray their victims will find a way to heal..

 

[2goldfish]

I was so terrified when I read this, I really have to try hard not to lock my kids in the house and never let them out because these things do happen and who would suspect a kid down the street....? I was reading a few months ago about mary bell and then jamie bulger and now this, these are the absolute worst for me, because these kids were so freaking damaged themselves, I know it's so easy so say they're pure evil but no child is pure evil, something happened to make them that way ... now they are past the point of choice I think which makes it all the more tragic, 4 little lives devastated due to some parents who didnt give a censored. these truly are the saddest crimes I think.

 

[simplesimon]

I too at times want to tell my daughters to lock up my grandkids and never let them out! It is sickening that these 2 boys are so young but what is society to do with them? do you really think they can be saved? I personally think they are beyond help. If you read about the Ted Bundy"s and Jeffrey Dahmer's of the world, it seems that some are born evil and probably in this case because there are two, they bonded into this evil duo. i do feel sympathy for them, God knows what they went through! But I feel more sympathy for the victims and families! Ask yourself this... Would you want these boys as neighbors , even if they had years of therapy.I know I don't.
The other thing that scares me is in so many cases, the signs are ignored or acted on too slowly.This happens all over the world where after the story comes out, there was always previous abuse,or at times even previous arrests and convictions! It literally makes me sick that some of these crimes could have been prevented if only someone would have acted on the original crime. I hate to say this but I believe some must be put away forever!

 

[believe09]

I have children around the age of the boys who were the perps-this story has had me looking very closely at them to see what in them could be either perp or victim -all I see is innocence. The boys in this case-they enjoyed inflicting the pain...once that happens, it has to set in motion a chain of events that will be difficult to over come. They will have to be watched closely forever-who is going to take that job on?

 

[southcitymom]

I have children around the age of the boys who were the perps-this story has had me looking very closely at them to see what in them could be either perp or victim -all I see is innocence. The boys in this case-they enjoyed inflicting the pain...once that happens, it has to set in motion a chain of events that will be difficult to over come. They will have to be watched closely forever-who is going to take that job on?

Hey believe! Do we know anything about how the children who killed James Bulger are doing? That case has the closest parallels of any other case I can recall. I may go do some Googling.

The children who killed James also came from rough backgrounds (though perhaps not as rough as the background these brothers came from) - it would be interesting to see how they are doing now that they are free. Probably, not much information is available since they came back into protected identities...though I do think we might hear about it if they had any serious trouble with the law or harmed someone again.

Some children who commit terrible crimes when they are young can change their course and some cannot. Without more information, none of us can make an informed decision about how the children in this case might fare in that regard.