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Two young brothers today pleaded guilty to a shocking James Bulger-style attack on a nine-year-old boy and his 11-year-old uncle.
Attempted murder charges were dropped when the brothers, who were aged 10 and 11 at the time, admitted grievous bodily harm with intent at Sheffield crown court.
They also admitted robbery and intentionally causing a child to engage in sexual activity. They will be sentenced later.
Both brothers were in foster care and one was on bail over other charges of violence when they carried out the attack near Doncaster in April.
They left the nine-year-old wandering, covered in blood, in the former pit village of Edlington.
The 11-year-old was discovered unconscious in a nearby wooded ravine.
Like the James Bulger murder 16 years ago - when the two-year-old was abducted and killed by 10-year-olds Robert Thompson and Jon Venables - the Edlington case prompted national soul-searching about how two young boys could contemplate and carry out such violence.
Residents claimed the brothers and their family terrorised neighbours with vandalism and sporadic violence. But they said the pair "did not stand a chance" given their upbringing.
For eight years the boys had lived with their 36-year-old mother and five siblings - boys aged from eight to 18 - in a tatty semi on a run-down council estate in Doncaster with a "beware of the kids" sign hung by the front door.
Shortly before the attack they were moved into foster care in Edlington.
The elder brother had already appeared in court on four separate occasions for "acts of violence".
The 10-year-old had been reprimanded for violence. At the time of the Edlington attack he was on bail facing two charges of causing actual bodily harm.
Both boys, who had been expelled from their primary school, were on the child protection register.
Their mother's partner lived with them until shortly before the boys were put into foster care. Neighbours talked about a chaotic alcohol and cannabis-fuelled lifestyle.
