The UK government is reviewing the non-custodial sentences handed to three teenage boys convicted in connection with the rape of two girls in Hampshire, after criticism from politicians and local officials who described the punishments as too lenient.
The case relates to two separate incidents in Fordingbridge, Hampshire, between November 2024 and January 2025. Two girls, aged 14 and 15, were assaulted by the defendants, who were aged between 14 and 15 at the time of the offences.
At Southampton Crown Court on Thursday, two of the boys, now aged 15, were each sentenced to three-year youth rehabilitation orders with intensive supervision and surveillance requirements. The third defendant, aged 14, received an 18-month youth rehabilitation order.
According to The Guardian, the second incident involved the younger victim being threatened with a knife before two of the boys raped her while others encouraged the assault and filmed it.
The sentences prompted criticism from former safeguarding minister Jess Phillips, who said the outcome appeared “unduly lenient” and risked sending the wrong message about serious sexual offences.
Phillips said the victims had endured a lengthy and traumatic legal process and argued the case raised broader concerns about how the justice system responds to violence against women and girls.
Criticism also came from Hampshire police and crime commissioner Donna Jones, who said the sentences focused heavily on rehabilitation and did not adequately reflect the severity of the crimes.
Jones added that education around sexual violence and harmful attitudes among young people remained important in preventing similar offences in the future.
A government spokesperson confirmed that the attorney general’s office had received requests to review the sentences under the unduly lenient sentence scheme.
“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 spokesperson said, adding that the case was being reviewed “with the utmost care and attention”.
During the hearing, the court was told that the boys had various developmental and mental health-related conditions, including ADHD and cognitive impairments.
Judge Rowland said the court had considered the ages and circumstances of the defendants when deciding against immediate custody. He said the justice system should avoid “criminalising these children unnecessarily” and instead support rehabilitation and reintegration into society.
One of the victims said in a statement read to the court that she continued to suffer emotional trauma and nightmares following the incident.
“The person I was before the incident has completely gone,” she said.
