Quote:
Mother's 'lynching' torment
By Richard Edwards, Crime Reporter, In Dewsbury, Evening Standard
2 June 2005
A mother has told of her anguish after a gang of children tried to strangle her five-year-old son
Terri Brown broke down in tears as she showed a neighbour the rope burns around her son Anthony Hinchliffe's neck.
She said: "Look what they've done to him. They tried to strangle him."
The boy was allegedly led to woodland in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, by a 12-year-old girl before a group of children tied a rope around his neck. His injuries are so serious that police are treating the attack on him as attempted murder.
Today two girls and a boy aged between 11 and 12 were still being questioned by police who said up to three more arrests were likely.
Two boys were released from custody early today and have been eliminated from the investigation. Anthony was missing for two hours before a cousin found him wandering in a distressed state close to his home.
The boy had been playing on a swing in the back garden of his family's home as his mother washed dishes in the kitchen.
When she called him in for his tea, he had disappeared. His scooter was abandoned on the pavement outside.
Today his cousin, Tracey Jones, who found him, told how Ms Brown, 30, had walked the streets shouting his name in a frantic attempt to find him. Miss Jones said: "Terri became hysterical."
The boy had never been farther than the end of the road by himself and had always obeyed his mother's orders to stay in the garden where she could see him.
He was found two hours later 200 yards from the house and was taken to hospital.
Detective Superintendent Andy Brennan, senior investigating officer, said: "Anthony's injuries were quite horrific in themselves - there were a number of bruises to his body and marks around his neck.
Asked if the boy had been hanged, Mr Brennan replied: "He has marks around his neck which could be consistent with ligature marks.
"However he has not been interviewed in relation to how he came by them but clearly there are marks around his neck, which give me cause for concern.
"Clearly the family are very distressed. The victim is a five year old child who suffered serious injuries, which is why those arrested were arrested on suspicion of attempted murder."
The boy told Miss Jones, that an older girl had taken him to the woodlands, known as Devil's Ditch, in Earlsheaton Park - a 13-minute walk away from his home in the Chickenley area of the town.
There the girl allegedly met the other children. It is there that the attack on him took place.
Miss Jones said: "I asked him, 'What the hell happened?' He said, 'Some boys and girls tied a rope around my neck and tied me to a tree.' He said, 'They wouldn't let me go'. " Miss Jones added: "When he saw me he just burst into tears. He was shook up and dazed. He was frantic and crying.
"He knows he is only allowed to play in the garden. His mother tells him that all the time."
Specially-trained officers are today continuing to question Anthony about what happened in the woodland.
Today his father, Mark Hinchliffe, 36, who split from his mother four months ago, said "It's absolutely awful and someone is to blame. I want to know how children can do something like this. Anthony has always been told not to go off with strangers. Though he is small for his age he is a very active child and plays with everyone.
"He would not have left the cul-de-sac alone."
The incident bears a chilling similarity to the 1993 murder of toddler James Bulger, who was led away by two 10-year-old boys while waiting for his mother outside a shop in Bootle
