Three teenage boys convicted of knife-point rape and other serious sexual offences against two teenage girls in Hampshire have been spared custodial sentences. Judge Nicholas Rowland said he wanted to avoid “criminalising these children unnecessarily” and instead imposed youth rehabilitation orders ranging from 18 months to three years.
The boys, aged between 13 and 14 at the time of the offences, physically overpowered and sexually assaulted the victims in separate incidents two months apart. The attacks were “brazenly filmed” on mobile phones, prosecutors said. One 15-year-old was convicted of three counts of rape and four counts of taking indecent images; he received 180 days of intensive supervision. The other two defendants, now 15 and 14, were also given non-custodial sentences.
The judge noted the boys’ low intelligence, with one having an IQ in the “bottom 1% of his contemporaries” and diagnoses of ADHD or mild cognitive impairment. He said they had a “limited understanding of consent” and that “peer pressure played a large part”. He stressed the seriousness of the crimes but added: “None of you need to go to prison today.”
Hampshire’s police and crime commissioner, Donna Jones, called the sentences “far too lenient” and said they “offer little comfort to their victims”. She offered support if the victims decide to appeal. One victim, who read a poem in court, said: “All I want to do is die.” The other said she feels “ashamed, insecure and uncomfortable in my own body”.
The first attack occurred in January 2025 when a 14-year-old girl was threatened with a knife, forced to leave her phone and AirTag, and raped in a secluded field. The second victim, aged 15, was raped in November 2024 in an underpass after meeting one of the boys on Snapchat for what she thought was a first date. A video of her 90-minute ordeal was shared on social media, leading to abusive messages.
