The Court of Appeal will review the non-custodial sentences given to three teenage boys for the rape of two girls, Prime Minister Keir Starmer has announced. The boys, two aged 15 and one 14 at the time of sentencing, received youth rehabilitation orders after the judge said he wanted to avoid criminalising them unnecessarily.
The decision sparked public outcry, with former safeguarding minister Jess Phillips labelling the sentences “unduly lenient” and one victim saying the outcome felt like “a rock straight in my face”. Attorney General Richard Hermer KC said his office had received multiple complaints under the unduly lenient sentences scheme.
Starmer said the case was “really distressing” and praised the courage of the girls who came forward. “The attorney general has now exercised that power. So I can announce that case now will go to a court of appeal … and that is clearly the right outcome,” he stated.
Hermer confirmed the referral, saying: “There has understandably been a huge amount of public interest, and concern, at this horrific case.” He noted an “epidemic of violence against women and girls” and pledged government action.
The sentences relate to two rapes in Fordingbridge, Hampshire, in November 2024 and January 2025. In the first, a 15-year-old girl was raped by two boys aged 14 at the time. In the second, three boys threatened a 14-year-old girl with a knife; two raped her while the others encouraged and filmed. The 15-year-olds each received a three-year youth rehabilitation order with supervision; the 14-year-old got an 18-month order.
In a BBC interview, the victim of the first attack, now 16, said the sentences “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”. Hampshire police and crime commissioner Donna Jones also called the sentences “far too lenient”.
