Girl, 13, avoids prison sentence

A 13-YEAR-OLD girl accused of hanging a five-year-old boy from a tree was yesterday spared custody and given a 12-month referral order by magistrates.

The schoolgirl, who was 12 at the time of the attack and cannot be named for legal reasons, appeared before a Dewsbury youth court after earlier pleading guilty to inflicting actual bodily harm on the youngster and attempting to pervert the course of justice.

Her victim was found with a red ligature type mark around his neck and bruises on his body following the attack in a wood in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire in May.