The Court of Appeal has sentenced two 15-year-old boys to four years' detention for the rape of two girls in Fordingbridge, Hampshire, overturning their original non-custodial sentences as 'unduly lenient'. The boys, known as X and Y, along with a 14-year-old identified as Z, were initially given community sentences in May for a total of 10 counts of rape and seven indecent image offences. The attacks occurred in November 2024 and January 2025, with X and Y participating in both, while Z encouraged the rape of the second victim.
Original Sentences Deemed Too Lenient
At Southampton Crown Court in May, Judge Nicholas Rowland imposed non-custodial sentences, stating he wanted to 'avoid criminalising these children unnecessarily' and that detention was a 'last resort'. He noted the boys were 'very young', had low intelligence, a 'limited understanding of consent', and were vulnerable to peer pressure. However, the Attorney General referred the sentences to the Court of Appeal as 'unduly lenient' just days later, arguing that detention was the 'only appropriate sentence'.
Appeal Hearing and New Sentences
At the hearing on Wednesday, solicitors for the Attorney General pushed for detention, while barristers for the boys argued the original sentences were correct and focused on rehabilitation. On Thursday, the Lady Chief Justice Baroness Carr, Lord Justice Edis, and Ms Justice Norton sentenced X and Y to four years' detention. Baroness Carr told the boys via video link: 'We have decided that we do need to change your sentences and both of you do need to go into detention. What you did was so bad that we have no other choice.'
However, Z's sentence was left unchanged. Baroness Carr explained: '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.'
Victim's Reaction
The second victim described the original sentence as a 'rock straight to the face' and told the BBC: 'Why did I put myself through the pain of going to court, going through a trial, reliving everything... It sort of gave me the sense of what's the point?' She felt the judge's decision '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'.
