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Two vicious young thugs tortured a pair of friends during a sickening attack that left one of them on the brink of death.

The wicked brothers, aged 10 and 11, subjected their innocent victims to a horrendous ordeal during which they beat them with bricks, tried to throttle them and forced them to carry out vile sex acts on each other.

One of the boys, aged 11, had a ceramic sink dropped on his head before being left unconscious. He was 30 minutes from death. Earlier he pleaded with the thugs: "Let me die."

His nine-year-old friend, also his nephew, had his eyes and ears burned in the attack at Edlington, South Yorks.

After the yobs admitted GBH yesterday, the youngster's furious dad said: "I want them hanged."

It is claimed the pair were such a handful their mum would put cannabis in their food in a bid to get some peace.

The vile thugs who tortured two young boys tormented their terrified victims by threatening to kill them as they begged for mercy.

After the brothers, aged 10 and 11, had subjected the friends to a sickening session of violence they turned to walk away.

The victims, aged 11 and nine, thought their ordeal was over.

But prosecutor Graham Measures told how one of the yobs cruelly sneered: "We can't go yet, we haven't killed them."

It was all too much for the 11-year-old who pleaded with the brothers: "Leave me to die."

The youngster was 30 minutes from death when found halfnaked in a stream after a catalogue of abuse that included having a ceramic sink dropped on his head and being forced to perform sex acts on his friend.

His dad said yesterday he had no doubt the pair intended to kill the boys and "should be hanged".

He added: "They tried to kill my son. They were trying to kill both of them. It was premeditated.

"They had tied barbed wire from one tree to another and strangled them. They smashed a sink over his head. They set it up."

The victims' ordeal began when they were lured to waste ground near their homes in Edlington, South Yorks, in April. The thugs said there were toads in the area.

But when they got there the boys were beaten with bricks and sticks, forced to eat nettles, had cigarettes stubbed out in open wounds, and were almost throttled by the barbed wire.

The 11-year-old fell unconscious and was so badly injured he had to be airlifted to hospital.

He also had a noose placed around his neck. His friend, who is also his nephew, had his ear and eyelids burned with cigarettes and rocks thrown at him. His genitals and face were stamped on and he was forced to smoke by the yobs.

The court heard how one brother broke a branch from a tree and rammed the sharp end into his arm, ripping his skin to the bone. One of the thugs then pushed cigarettes into the wound which needed plastic surgery.

He was then told to "go away and kill himself" by the brothers.

The terrified youngster plunged a stick down his own throat.

The boys' tormentors tried to force them to perform sex acts on each other and kiss.

Rescuers eventually found the 11-year-old after his nephew fled the scene and got help. He stumbled across neighbours but was so covered in blood only his eyes showed.

Prosecutor Mr Measures said at an earlier youth court hearing: "Both of them were subjected to a horrific, violent, sustained physical attack."

One court official burst into tears after listening to the eldest victim's ordeal.

It was also revealed the thugs carried out a similar assault on another boy a week before their sickening attack.

The parents of the older victim believe that the youngsters may never fully recover mentally from their ordeal.

His mum added: "Our son is trying to put it behind him, but he's not managed it really."

And she said of the thugs' actions: "It's up to the parents.

They should have been there for them in the first place."

The depraved brothers both admitted GBH, robbery and inciting the boys to engage in sexual activity.

Yesterday, the older boy yawned in Sheffield crown court as the details of his horrific crimes were outlined. They could face life. Prosecutor Nicholas Campbell said the pair were not charged with attempted murder as there were doubts a jury could conclude they intended to kill.

But he added: "The maximum sentence for GBH with intent and attempted murder are the same."

Last night the brothers were being held separately in secure accommodation.

They will have psychiatric tests which could last three months before being sentenced.

At the time of the assault, the brothers should have been at a police station answering questions about an earlier attack.

The details of their crimes were revealed at the earlier hearing, three days after they tortured the boys, but they could only be reported yesterday.

None of the boys can be named for legal reasons.

But the 11-year-old's father, 44, said: "I want the thugs' names plastered across the papers so the world can know what they did."

Det Supt Mick Mason said later: "This crime was extremely shocking and it ranks up there with the most serious I have ever dealt with."