'He is still my son and I love him to bits'

But the violent teenager, described in court as having the emotional maturity of a toddler, still has the support and love of his close-knit family.

The former Beckfoot school pupil was yesterday detained at Her Majesty's pleasure after admitting murdering his 20-year-old brother Paddy at the family's home in Hazel Mount, Windhill, on the night of November 4 last year and attempting to murder his eldest brother Robert, 21, who managed to escape the frenzied attack with slashes to his arms and back.

Despite the tragedy, the family has battled through the trauma to find the strength to forgive Daniel for robbing them of a brother and son.

Daniel, who turned 16 on April 9, still had family cards and presents to open behind bars a ghetto blaster and CDs.

Now the trial is over his family have spoken to the Telegraph & Argus about what happened the night of the stabbing and how they are desperately struggling to come to terms with it.

It started out as a quiet night in. Daniel was sat watching television with Paddy sharing beers and Robert was upstairs playing on his computer.

The boy's mum Tracey Baxter had gone out with friends and their little sister Emma, 14, was on a sleep-over.

Robert said: "I was on the computer in my room when Daniel walked in as right as rain and asked what I was playing. He stopped and watched for a while then walked out.

"Sixty seconds later he was back. I heard him walk in and shut the door behind him.

"The next minute I felt him hit me in the back, I thought he'd just punched me so I asked him what he was doing. He did it again but it hurt more than a punch then I realised he'd stabbed me. He had a big kitchen knife, I only knew it was a knife because the light from the computer flashed off it the bulb was out in my room."

A wrestle broke out between the two brothers and Robert shouted for help. He said: "Daniel never said a word. It wasn't him. I tried to reason with him but his face was blank. I looked in his eyes but Daniel wasn't there."

Paddy ran into the room just as Daniel was about to lunge again at Robert. He caught him by his arms and shouted at Robert to get out and call an ambulance.

Robert said: "Paddy came behind him and told me to get out. He (Paddy) got him by his arms then Daniel started shouting there was someone else in the room. Paddy said he knew but I think he was just trying to calm him down."

Robert ran out of the house and shouted to neighbours for help: "The next minute Paddy came running out of the house with his hand on his neck bleeding. He fell to the floor but crawled to me. Then I dropped to the floor next to him. I heard him take his last breath."

Neighbours dialled 999 and in minutes police were swarming the scene, less than half-an-hour later officers had tracked down Daniel who had run off to another house on the estate.

Paramedics rushed Robert to Bradford Royal Infirmary where he spent a week recovering from his wounds before being transferred to St Luke's Hospital for another two weeks because he needed specialist dialysis of his kidneys which were damaged in an accident a decade ago when he was horrifically burned by a fire he lit in a den.

Just months before the stabbing, Paddy had been tested as a donor match but tragically his kidneys were too damaged in the attack to be given to Robert.

Now Robert is facing an agonising wait on the NHS Transplant List along with another 5,736 in the UK hoping for a new kidney.

Despite his anguish at losing Paddy and the potential of his brother's gift, Robert has forgiven Daniel. He believes the teenager did not know what he was doing.

He said: "At the end of the day he is still my brother. It wasn't Daniel that night. I have forgiven him. I don't hate Daniel but I still get angry because Paddy's not here. It's love and hate at the same time."

He says mum Tracey is putting on "a brave face" doing her best to keep the family together.

The single mum, who is 40, said her "heart froze" the night she came home to see a white forensic tent outside her door.

"I remember someone running up to me. They wouldn't let me walk any further then they dragged me into a neighbour's house. There was a CID woman who told me what happened. I just felt cold, I wanted to get to Robert."

The next time Tracey saw Daniel was in court: "I wanted to throttle him but he's still my son and I love him to bits. I know there's something wrong with him but I don't know what.

"He's been ringing home on a Monday while he's been in custody and we've been writing to each other. He knows what's happened but he can't explain it. He just says Paddy was an accident. He told me voices were telling him to get Robert. He needs help. He's a victim too."

In the family's front room a portrait hangs on the wall of the four children. Daniel is ten at the time and is the second youngest but looks like the oldest, stood at the back with his arms wrapped around his brothers and sister.

Robert said Daniel was different from other children his age from early on. "His head grew up before his body. He never played like other kids his age. When he was four he used to ride a big bike that older kids should be riding. We used to call him devil-child because he had no fear. He was always like that."

He went to Bolton Woods First School and then High Craggs when the family moved to Hazel Mount five years ago.

"Mum really tried but he got in with a bad lot who were mixed up in drugs."

Robert believes Daniel finally gave in to friends' pressures to take drugs when he was about 11 and revealed that twice in the past five years he had overdosed on drugs and alcohol and once tried to hang himself.

"He got into more trouble for fighting and nicking things. I've lost count of the number of care units he's been in about five or six I think."

Last year Daniel arrived unexpectedly on the family's doorstep after kidnapping a key worker and another child from one of the care units by knifepoint.

"He dumped them and just turned up here. He wanted to come home."

Daniel was freed from Barton Moss Secure Care Centre at Eccles in October last year just two weeks before the stabbing.

Robert is convinced his brother was not fit to come home for good and desperately needed psychological help to help him adjust to his new freedom.

"They sent him home for good this time but he wasn't ready. The Daniel who came home wasn't the Daniel we knew. He was quiet and just sat around the house. He didn't want to go out, he was withdrawn, not himself. We knew something was not right."

During those two weeks the family say they rang the Care Unit three times because they were worried about Daniel's behaviour.

"They said it was normal and he was just getting used to being free. Mum felt guilty but she thought he was not ready to be home she was right. If someone had listened to us Paddy would still be here."