Three teenage boys convicted of knife-point rape and other serious sexual offences against two teenage girls in Hampshire have avoided custodial sentences after a judge said he wanted to avoid “criminalising these children unnecessarily”. The boys, aged between 13 and 14 at the time of the attacks, physically overpowered and sexually assaulted the victims, who were 14 and 15, in separate incidents two months apart. The attacks were filmed on mobile phones, prosecutors said.
Sentencing at Southampton Crown Court, Judge Nicholas Rowland imposed youth rehabilitation orders ranging from 18 months to three years. One 15-year-old boy, convicted of three counts of rape and four counts of taking indecent images, was ordered to undergo 180 days of intensive supervision and surveillance. The judge noted the boys had low IQs, ADHD, and a “limited understanding of consent”, adding that “peer pressure played a large part”. He said: “None of you need to go to prison today.”
Hampshire’s police and crime commissioner, Donna Jones, criticised the sentences as “far too lenient”, saying they “offer little comfort to their victims”. She added: “I’m deeply concerned these boys felt they could carry out such terrifying acts and share them online and not go to prison.” She offered support to the victims if they chose to appeal.
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 in a shop, and taken to a secluded field where she was raped by two of the defendants while they filmed. The second victim, aged 15, was raped in November 2024 by two of the same boys in an underpass after meeting one for what she thought was a first date. A video of her 90-minute ordeal was shared on social media, leading to abusive messages.
In court, the first victim read a poem saying: “All I want to do is die, I no longer have fear for when that comes.” The second victim’s statement described struggles with school, nightmares, and feeling “ashamed, insecure and uncomfortable in my own body”. The judge praised their bravery. Siobhan Blake of the Crown Prosecution Service said the case reflected a trend of “more serious and more violent behaviour” in youth-on-youth sexual offences.
