Brothers charged with boys' attempted murder

Two young brothers were today charged with attempted murder after a nine-year-old boy and his 11-year-old uncle were attacked and injured, the Crown Prosecution Service said.

The pair, aged 10 and 11, are accused of attacking the youngsters in Edlington, Doncaster, on Saturday afternoon.

The young victims are continuing to receive hospital treatment after they were found with serious injuries.

Police were alerted at 2pm on Saturday when the nine-year-old boy was found wandering, covered in blood, in Auburn Road.

The youngster told the people who found him where to find his 11-year-old friend and uncle, who was discovered semi-conscious in a nearby wooded ravine.

The older boy was airlifted to Sheffield Children's Hospital in a critical condition after the attack but was yesterday taken off a ventilator and moved to a high-dependency ward.

He was said today to be "stable and improving".

The younger boy was expected to have a further operation on his arm.

Today, South Yorkshire Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said it had advised South Yorkshire Police to charge the boys with four counts each of attempted murder and robbery.

Chris Hartley, head of the service's Crown Court Unit, said: "We have now authorised the police to charge a boy aged 10 and a boy aged 11.

"Each boy is charged with an offence of attempted murder for each victim and each boy is also charged with an offence of robbery against each victim.

"This gives a total for four charges for each boy."