Five youths who laughed as they shot film footage of a dying man were branded "monsters" by a judge.

Former baker Roger Winfield was in clear distress as he lay struggling for life following a blow to his head in a fall.

But rather than bring help the five boys mocked him, dragged him close to a campfire and then produced a video camera.

Mr Winfield's ordeal played out to a hushed court to illustrate the savagery of his tormentors.

York Youth Court was told how the five - Michael Woolley, 17, and 16-year-olds Jamie Hargreaves, Kurt Jordan, Ryan Meaney, all from Sherburn-in-Elmet, and 16-year-old Joe Brook, from a nearby village - subjected Mr Winfield to a catalogue of abuse.

Sentencing the gang to youth detention, District Judge Bruce Morgan, asked: "How low can members of the human race sink?

"It's clear from the pictures he was in pain and he was suffering. They must have seen he was in great distress."

The court heard Mr Winfield had been drinking with other youths on the campsite and later fell ill.

Alan Mitcheson, prosecuting, said as Mr Winfield lay drunk the teenagers subjected him to a series of horrific torments, including nudging him closer to a campfire so he was centimetres from the flames.

They put a can of beer on the fire in the hope that it might explode and put a laxative in his mouth.

They also decorated his face with cracker biscuits and putting a cigarette in his mouth before drawing on his face and tying his shoelaces together.

The incidents were videoed by Woolley using a friend's camcorder.

The gang sat with heads bowed as 30 minutes of the footage was shown in court.

In a last chilling scene, Mr Winfield was shown lying on the ground the following day.

He had crawled into a tent, where two children found him and died in hospital four days later.

The judge allowed the boys to be named but said photographs of them could not be used after a plea from one of their solicitors that it would cause too much distress to their families.

The court heard Mr Winfield was found lying in a tent in a field at White Rose Football Club, in Sherburn-in-Elmet, North Yorks, on April 15 last year.

The court heard how Mr Winfield had been out drinking with a group of youngsters in the village's Eversley Park Centre the day before he was found.

He had bought them cans of alcohol which the group drank before deciding to camp out for the night in the field.

On his way to the field, it is believed Mr Winfield fell and hit his head - which is thought to have caused the injury that later killed him.

Solicitors for the youths stressed that there was no suggestion they had caused Mr Winfield's death and that they were not aware that he had been injured when the acts took place.

They said the youngsters, who had been drunk and had smoked cannabis, were genuinely sorry for what they had done.

One youth, Jordan, was the only one to have left the group during the evening.

Three of them, Brook, Meaney and Woolley, admitted intending to cause harassment, alarm or distress. Jordan and Hargreaves had denied the charge, but were convicted after a trial.

Hargreaves, Woolley and Brook were each given an eight-month detention and training order, Meaney was given 12 months, and Jordan four months.