Two boy burglars who battered a deaf mute man with hammers were both jailed for four years today.

Judge Roger Scott allowed the media to name and shame Daniel Thompson, who was 14 at the time of the incident, and Anthony Hinchcliffe, who was 15, and he ordered their mothers to take parenting courses.

Teesside Crown Court heard that the boys targeted victim John Rattigan, 57, who was a well-known and popular figure in Hartlepool. Prosecutor Richard Bennett said staff at a restaurant next door to Mr Rattigan's home heard grunting and what sounded like a dog barking during the attack.

Mr Bennett said the noise was infact a terrified Mr Rattigan trying to speak.

The court heard Mr Rattigan was upstairs in his house when the lights went out and when he went down into the kitchen where he was attacked by the pair.

They left him unconscious with three deep cuts to his head and they stole his toolbox which police recovered from Hinchcliffe's bedroom. Thompson burned all the clothes he was wearing during the attack except his trainers which matched footprints in the bloodsoaked house. Roger Moore defending Thompson said: "This is an appalling case but they did not expect Mr Rattigan to be in his house."

Thompson, now 15, of Jesmond Road, Hartlepool, and Hinchcliffe,16, of Stotfield Street, Hartlepool, were both sentenced to four years detention after they pleaded guilty to aggravated burglary on December 3 last year.

The judge told them:"The maximum sentence for this is 14 years or more and if you were 18 -plus I would have been thinking in terms of sentences of seven to eight years.

"Those who set about disabled people with a hammer should have their names published in the press if it is necessary."

A third Hartlepool boy, also 16, who cannot be named for legal reasons and was the lookout for the attackers, was given a 12 months supervision order after he pleaded guilty to a burglary charge.