Edlington boys are also victims

I'm not condoning what these lads have done but my experience is that boys like these have come from a dysfunctional family background and as such are themselves abused children. You have to ask the question where was the professional help for these children? I've gathered evidence as an undercover investigator for anti-social behaviour. I've seen the most appalling crimes involving beatings and abuse. I've never had a situation where the perpetrators were not known to the local authority and had a long history of dysfunction and were always children at risk. Social Services and the Local Authorities continually let their service users down. I've known of good social workers who have told their managers about the need to take care proceedings and been told to change their reports to reflect a better position than was reality merely to save money! These lads are victims just as much as the children they have abused.