One of the young victims said the judge’s ruling was “a rock straight in my face”
There is growing outcry over a judge’s decision to spare three teenage boys who raped two girls from any custodial sentence.
One of the two teenage victims spoke anonymously to the BBC, describing her anguish at going through a trial at which the boys were convicted only to see them walk free from court. “Why did I sit and put myself through the pain of going to court, going through a trial, reliving everything because of evidence and watching it all happen again?” the girl said.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer has now added his voice to the call for the sentences to be reconsidered, saying the girls have “shown extraordinary bravery and strength in heinous circumstances” and it was “right” that the attorney general was reviewing the sentences given by a judge at Southampton Crown Court.
The rapes in Fordingbridge, Hampshire, in 2024 and 2025, were filmed on phones and showed the boys laughing and encouraging each other.
Two of the boys were 14 when they carried out the attacks and the third was 13 when he aided and abetted the assaults on the second girl.
In the first offence, the 15 year old victim had arranged to meet one of the boys who she had been exchanging messages with on Snapchat. She thought it was a first date but two other boys appeared and she was raped three times in an underpass by the River Avon while it was filmed.
The court heard she was “petrified”, felt “cornered and trapped” and feared being thrown into the river.
The second girl was 14 when she met the boys at Fordingbridge Recreation Ground, and was raped repeatedly in a nearby field. Stay in the know by making sure you’re receiving our daily newsletter
At the sentencing hearing at Southampton Crown Court, Judge Nicholas Rowland said he recognised the “seriousness” of the crimes but hepraised the boys for how they had conducted themselves throughout the trial.
He further stated that he wished to avoid “criminalising” the “very young” boys. One of the 15-year-olds was handed a three-year youth rehabilitation order (YRO) with 180 days of intensive supervision and surveillance for the rape of each of the two girls and two indecent images charges. The second 15 year old received an identical sentence for three counts of rape against each of the victims and four charges of taking indecent images.
The 14-year-old boy was handed an 18-month YRO for his role in the January 2025 attack, having encouraged one of the other defendants to carry out the rape.
Speaking to the BBC anonymously, with her family beside her, one of the victims described the judge’s ruling as “a rock straight in my face”, stating that it “almost made it seem as if what the boys did was not OK, but it was OK in the eyes of the law because they were still children”.
They told the BBC that they want the sentences to be changed, and the boys sent to jail, saying the sentences amounted to a “slap on the wrist”.
The girl’s mother said that her world “stopped” when she discovered what had happened to her daughter. She called upon the Prime Minister to overturn the decision, asking: “if it was your daughter, your niece, your son, your nephew, your family member, would you be happy?
“Because we’re not happy and I don’t think any other member of the public will be happy too. So you’re in a position of power to help, so please help.”
The girl revealed to the BBC that it took six months before she felt able to speak out about the assault. “The reason I said it was because I was losing it. I was spiralling. I needed help, but I didn’t know how to get it, so I spoke up,” she said.
She further described the emotional turmoil she had been experiencing since the attack, saying it is “all I can think about is being sad, being angry, stressed, tired, school, needing a job, trying to pull my life together while I feel like it’s falling apart”.
But that the judge’s decision has made her question why she went through with speaking out in the first place. “Why did I sit and put myself through the pain of going to court, going through a trial, reliving everything because of evidence and watching it all happen again?” she asked.
“It sort of gave me a sense of what’s the point…what was the point in putting me through that just to say that it’s fine.”
In the wake of the sentencing, the attorney general is set to examine the ruling and will have 28 days to decide whether the sentences should be referred to the Court of Appeal.
Cabinet minister Darren Jones told the BBC that he expects the attorney general to make a decision quicker than that, telling the programme that the girls “deserve justice, as do their families, both for them but also for other girls that are put in that position”.
A government spokesperson said: “We share the public’s shock at the details of this horrific case, and our thoughts are with the young victims during this distressing time.
“The Law Officers are urgently reviewing the case with the utmost care and attention.”
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