Police could be closer to catching thugs who left a teenager fighting for life, after the Yorkshire Evening Post put up a £5,000 reward.

The Leeds-based newspaper is offering the money in a bid to find out who attacked local teenager Joel McBrinn with planks of wood – and the move has already prompted a number of leads which police are now sifting through.

Editor Neil Hodgkinson said the paper had decided to act because of the poor response police had had in the ten days since the attack.

He said: “I spoke to the policeman in charge of the investigation and realised that it had been quite quiet in terms of leads, and suggested we put up a reward to see if it might bring someone forward.”

“The victim is a nice young lad, a loving son and grandson and a keen sportsman.

“It appears to have been a motiveless attack and his family deserve to know who did this and why.”

Neil also said that it was important for the paper, as part of the community, to get involved in a case that had shocked the city.

He said: “This is very much a Leeds story and the YEP is the paper for Leeds.

“Someone knows who did this – they are someone’s son, school friend or colleague, and it doesn’t reflect well on the city if they are allowed to get away with it.”

Seventeen-year-old Joel was attacked by three youths as he walked home from a birthday party in Burley in Leeds.

He and his friends were chased by the youths who were brandishing lengths of timber, and Joel was cornered and beaten repeatedly, leaving him on the brink of death.