A five-year-old boy found with "horrific" ligature marks around his neck had been taken from his mother's garden.

Anthony Brown was taken to nearby woods, where he suffered the injuries in what police are treating as attempted murder.

Detectives have refused to confirm reports that the youngster sustained his injuries through being hanged.

Five children - all aged between 11 and 12 - were arrested last night over the incident.

Anthony was found in a distraught state by his 22-year-old cousin, Tracey Jones, and a member of the public yesterday in woods close to the Earlsheaton Medical Centre in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire.

As well as the ligature marks, there was bruising on his body.

The boy's father, Mark Hinchliffe, who lives apart from Anthony's mother, said he believed his son had been taken from his garden and led to the scene where he was injured. He told ITV News: "Apparently, he was taken from the garden, taken to some woods and I don't know the rest of it."

He said he had visited Dewsbury District Hospital -where Anthony was taken for treatment -but was told he had already been released.

Asked what kind of boy his son was, he said: "Very active lad, do you know what I mean?

"He loves playing about and that - he's an active lad. He's got loads of friends but something like this... you don't know."

Four local children - two girls aged 11 and 12 and two boys aged 11 and 12 - were arrested on suspicion of attempted murder. Later, police confirmed another 12-year-old boy, had been arrested. Up to three more arrests are likely.

Detective Superintendent Andy Brennan, the senior investigating officer, said the young victim was not related to any of his attackers.

He said: ''He has got a number of bruises to his body and has a number of marks around his neck and clearly what we would hope to gain by interviewing him today and this evening would be to establish how he came by those injuries.''

Asked if the boy had been hanged, Mr Brennan replied: ''He has marks around his neck which could be consistent with ligature arks.

''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."

None of the children in custody are related to each other, the detective added.

He was being interviewed by specially-trained officers.

Police believe the incident happened between 5.30pm and 6pm on Wednesday in a wooded area at the rear of the medical centre.

Police said a number of items had been recovered from the scene, which backs onto parkland.

A family friend said that the relatives of Anthony were devastated by the alleged attack.

He said the boy was found near a local chip shop, two hours after he went missing close to his home.

"He is a lovely little lad. He used to come round here and we would baby-sit for him. I can't say anymore but I know the family are devastated by what has happened," he said.

No one answered the door at the family home in Chickenley this afternoon.

Both the upstairs and downstairs curtains were drawn and there was no sign of anyone being at home.

The father of one of the 12-year-old boys who was arrested declined to comment at his home in Dewsbury.

But he confirmed his son had been arrested and taken to a police station for questioning.

The incident bears similarities to the 1993 murder of Merseyside toddler James Bulger, who was led away by Jon Venables and Robert Thompson, both aged ten, as he waited for his mother outside a shop in the Strand shopping centre in Bootle.

The two boys walked James around the streets of Liverpool for more than two miles, stopping occasionally to hit him - before eventually torturing James to death on a stretch of railway and leaving his body on the tracks.

The pair served eight years in secure youth custody before being released, under secret new identities, in 2001.