Two 15-year-old boys who were spared custody for the rape of two girls in Fordingbridge have been sentenced to four years' detention after the Court of Appeal ruled their sentences were “unduly lenient”.
The boys, known as X and Y, and another aged 14 known as Z, were given non-custodial sentences in May for a combined 10 counts of rape and seven indecent image offences related to two victims, who were separately attacked in the Hampshire town in November 2024 and January 2025.
The two older boys were involved in both attacks, while the 14-year-old encouraged the rape of the second victim.
Original sentences deemed too lenient
They were given non-custodial sentences in May after a judge at Southampton Crown Court said he should “avoid criminalising these children unnecessarily” and that detention was a “last resort”. However, the Attorney General referred the sentences to the Court of Appeal as “unduly lenient” days later.
At a hearing on Wednesday, lawyers for the Attorney General said detention was the “only appropriate sentence”, while barristers for the boys said the sentences were correct and focused on rehabilitating them.
Court of Appeal ruling
On Thursday, the Lady Chief Justice Baroness Carr, Lord Justice Edis and Ms Justice Norton sentenced X and Y to four years’ detention, while leaving Z’s sentence unchanged.
Reading a summary of their judgment to X and Y, who appeared by video link from Southampton Crown Court, Baroness Carr said: “We have decided that we do need to change your sentences and both of you do need to go into detention.”
She continued: “We have made this decision because we think that what you both did was so bad that we have no other choice.”
Baroness Carr later added: “Even though you will not be in detention for the whole of the four-year sentence, we know that it will still be a long time for you to be away from your home and families. But what you both did was so bad that we decided that we had no other choice than to make these sentences.”
14-year-old's sentence unchanged
Addressing Z, who also attended Southampton Crown Court, Baroness Carr said: “We have decided that because you were very young and find some things really very difficult to understand, and because you were only involved on one occasion, we do not need to change your sentence.”
The judge also said that while the sentencing judge, Judge Nicholas Rowland, faced a “difficult sentencing exercise”, a custodial sentence for X and Y was “unavoidable”.
Background of the offenders
At the sentencing hearing, Judge Rowland said that although X and Y’s offences “crossed the custody threshold” and posed a “high risk of serious harm” to young females, he had to consider their backgrounds. He said X had been diagnosed with ADHD and “long-standing anxiety” while Y had an IQ in the bottom 1%, had ADHD with “extreme neurodevelopmental impairment” and presented “more like an eight-year-old”.
X was previously given a three-year youth rehabilitation order (YRO) with 180 days of intensive supervision and surveillance for raping and taking indecent images of both victims. Y received the same sentence for three charges of rape against each of the two victims and four counts of taking indecent images by filming the incidents. Z was given an 18-month YRO for two charges of rape related to the latter victim after encouraging the second defendant, and for an offence of indecent images.
Appeal judges' criticism
But Baroness Carr said that Judge Rowland “undervalued the seriousness of their offending and the serious harm caused by it to the complainants”. She continued: “The involvement in the two incidents taken together was such that an immediate and substantial period of detention was required.”
In the Court of Appeal’s 52-page full judgment, Baroness Carr said statements from the two girls “spoke of enduring distress and despair”, but Judge Rowland “did not explain why he found that this material did not prove severe psychological harm”.
Baroness Carr continued: “It appears that he may have placed substantial weight on his own impressions formed during the trial. He was entitled to take that into account, but great care is required before allowing that impression to lead to the rejection of evidence of the kind we have described.”
The senior judge added that the two girls’ rapes are “very likely to have long-term and profound consequences, not all of which are immediately apparent”.
Additional measures
The three judges also extended X and Y’s restraining orders, preventing them from contacting either victim, from 10 years to an indefinite order.
Baroness Carr also said there had been “misinformed and inappropriate commentary” on the case, having previously criticised the Crown Prosecution Service over inaccuracies in a press release issued when the boys were first sentenced in May, which were not corrected for several days.
