Edlington boy torturer 'now a different person' Published duration 19 December 2016

image caption The brothers moved to Edlington just three weeks before the attack to live with foster parents

One of two teenage brothers who tortured two boys in South Yorkshire told a judge he was now "the opposite of that person who did the crimes".

The siblings, then aged 10 and 11, carried out the "sadistic" attack in Edlington, near Doncaster, in 2009.

Now aged 18 and 19, the brothers were granted lifelong anonymity by High Court judge Sir Geoffrey Vos.

Outlining his reasons for making the order he said he felt the brothers were "equally committed to rehabilitation".

image caption The attack happened near the Doncaster village of Edlington in April 2009

Sir Geoffrey said the younger brother had made "his own statement" at a hearing on 9 December.

"He fully acknowledged the extreme gravity of his offences, and said compellingly that he now feels inside like a completely different person," said the judge in his ruling.

"He said that, '[it] has taken a long time to get there and I have done loads of work with professionals in secure to work through what I did and why I did it.

"'I now feel like I have become the opposite to that person who did the crimes.

"'I desperately want to carry on being the person I have become. I want to get a job or maybe even go to uni'."

image copyright Julia Quenzler image caption The boys, who were tried for their crimes in 2010, were initially granted anonymity until they were 18

Sir Geoffrey added: "The other evidence before me suggests that [his] ambitions may be genuinely capable of realisation."

He went on: "I have no doubt that [the older brother] is equally committed to the path of rehabilitation."

The brothers' victims, aged nine and 11, were throttled, hit with bricks, made to eat nettles, stripped and forced to sexually abuse each other in the attack.

A sink was dropped on the older boy's head, and the younger boy had a sharp stick rammed into his arm and cigarettes pushed into the wound.

Parts of the attack were recorded on a mobile phone.

The brothers, who admitted causing grievous bodily harm, were sentenced to a minimum of five years' detention in 2010.

They were released earlier this year and given new identities.

Sir Geoffrey said he was satisfied the anonymity order was in the public interest.