What do you say when a 5-year-old boy is hung by a noose from a tree? Words escape me.

Scotsman

Five children have been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder after a five-year-old boy was allegedly taken from his garden and strung up by the neck from a tree.

Anthony Brown, from Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, told relatives he had been playing on swings in his garden with a 12-year-old girl around 4pm on Tuesday when she took him half a mile to a wood known as Devil’s Ditch at Earlsheaton Park.

There she allegedly met up with two 12-year-old boys and two 11-year-old girls who put a rope noose around Anthony’s neck and left him hanging from a tree. Anthony escaped after the children left.

Reuters

His mother, Terry Brown, urged anyone with information to come forward.

"This has been a very distressing time for both myself and my family," Brown said in a statement. "One of my main concerns, now that I have Anthony back with me, is for anyone who has any information that can help the police to come forward and get in touch."

Police said they had rearrested a 12-year-old girl who had been released earlier on Thursday after being questioned over the incident.

Police originally arrested five children -- two girls and three boys all aged 11 or 12. None of whom were related to the victim but all were said to be from the local area.

Two boys were released overnight after they were eliminated from the inquiry and the 12-year-old girl was later freed after police made an unsuccessful appeal to magistrates to be allowed to question her for longer.

A boy and a girl, both 11, remained in custody and detectives said they were still trying to trace two or three other suspects.

"The injuries looked quite horrific in themselves," Detective Superintendent Andy Brennan told reporters on Wednesday.

"He has marks around his neck which could be consistent with ligature marks," he said. "It's too early to say whether these were caused by a rope around his neck."

Tipped by: Hyscience

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