Two 15-year-old boys who were spared custody for raping two girls in Fordingbridge, Hampshire, have been sentenced to four years' detention after the Court of Appeal ruled their original sentences were 'unduly lenient'.
The pair, known as X and Y, were given youth rehabilitation orders (YRO) and placed on a supervision programme by Judge Nicholas Rowland in May for raping two girls in separate attacks in November 2024 and January 2025. Lady Chief Justice Baroness Carr said appeal judges had 'thought very hard' about their sentences and that 'both of you do need to go into detention'.
Original sentences criticised as too lenient
At Southampton Crown Court, Judge Rowland acknowledged the offences 'crossed the custody threshold' but stated he wanted to 'avoid criminalising these children unnecessarily' and that detention was a 'last resort'. Attorney General Lord Hermer referred the case to the Court of Appeal under the Unduly Lenient Sentence scheme days later.
Tom Little KC, representing the Attorney General, argued before the Court of Appeal that the boys should be locked up. He said parts of Judge Rowland's approach were 'fundamentally flawed' and 'appear to minimise aspects of the case', including the harm caused to the victims. He noted that each victim's suffering was given only a line-and-a-half in the sentencing remarks.
Victim impact and offences
One victim was raped three times, and the boys shared videos of the attacks on social media. In a statement, she said: 'I feel like I am carrying what happened every day. It is always there. What happened to me has left me harmed so severely that I do not think I will ever be the same.'
The boys, who cannot be named for legal reasons, were convicted of a combined ten rape and seven indecent image offences. X received a three-year YRO with 180 days of intensive supervision for raping and taking indecent images of both victims. Y received the same sentence for three charges of rape against each victim and four counts of taking indecent images by filming the incidents. A third boy, Z, was given an 18-month YRO for two charges of rape related to the latter victim and an indecent image offence.
Appeal hearing arguments
During the two-day hearing, lawyers for the boys argued the sentences were appropriate. Clare Wade KC, for X, said: 'The sentences imposed broadly provide the best opportunity for the child offenders to learn and develop and provide the most effective way of protecting women and girls in future by preventing future offending.' Edward Henry KC, for Y, cited a 'constellation of comorbid conditions that dramatically reduced his culpability' and argued that the Attorney General had not established a 'gross error' by the judge.
Mr Little countered that 'it is difficult to understand how the judge could properly have come to the conclusion that he did, given the sheer number of rape offences, which the judge does not properly address in any way... the underlying seriousness of the offending and the harm sustained.'
Court of Appeal judgment
Lady Chief Justice Baroness Carr, sitting with Lord Justice Edis and Ms Justice Norton, handed down the judgment on Thursday. The boys, who did not attend the hearing, were expected to appear via video link to hear the decision, with Baroness Carr stating the judges 'will want to address' them directly to explain the ruling.
