UK government reviews unduly lenient sentences for teen rapists in Hampshire
The UK government is reviewing the sentences of three teenage boys who raped two girls in separate attacks in Fordingbridge, Hampshire, in 2024 and 2025, after criticism that the non-custodial sentences were too lenient. The boys, aged 14 and 15, were given youth rehabilitation orders and walked out of court with 11 rape convictions between them. The attorney general's office has received multiple requests for review under the Unduly Lenient Sentence scheme and has up to 28 days to decide whether to refer the case to the Court of Appeal.
The UK government is reviewing the sentences of three teenage boys who raped two girls in separate attacks in Fordingbridge, Hampshire, in 2024 and 2025, after widespread criticism that the non-custodial penalties were unduly lenient.
The boys, two aged 15 and one aged 14, were given youth rehabilitation orders and walked out of court with 11 rape convictions between them. They had “brazenly filmed” the rapes on their phones and shared some of the footage online.
The attorney general’s office has received “multiple” requests for review under the Unduly Lenient Sentence (ULS) scheme, a government spokesperson said. The spokesperson added that law officers were “urgently reviewing the case with the utmost care and attention”. The attorney general and solicitor general have up to 28 days to decide whether to refer the case to the Court of Appeal.
The first victim was 15 when she was raped three times in an underpass by the River Avon in Fordingbridge. She had travelled to meet one of the boys for the first time after he began a “relationship” with her on Snapchat, but then two other boys appeared. The second victim was 14 when she met the boys at Fordingbridge Recreation Ground and was raped repeatedly in a nearby field. Video footage shown in court captured her lying motionless on the ground with “her face buried in her hands” while another boy shouted words of encouragement.
The boys denied the charges but were found guilty in March after a trial at Southampton Crown Court. Explaining his sentencing decision, Judge Nicholas Rowland said he would avoid “criminalising” the “very young” boys. He stressed the “seriousness” of the crimes and said the filming made them even “more serious”.
Former Home Office minister Jess Phillips condemned the sentences as “unduly lenient”. “These young people it seems were essentially raping for content in order to put it on social media and share it to their friends gloating about raping these poor young women,” Phillips told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme. Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch called the sentences “a disgrace”. Shadow Justice Minister Dr Kieran Mullan said: “It cannot be right that teenage boys can commit brutal crimes of rape like this and avoid prison entirely.”
Det Sgt Naomi Stocker from Hampshire Police said the force was “liaising with our partners at the Crown Prosecution Service in relation to the sentence passed”.