A 16-year-old rape victim has condemned a judge's decision not to jail two teenage boys who raped her and another girl in separate incidents in Fordingbridge, Hampshire. The girl, speaking anonymously to the BBC, described the sentence as “a rock straight in my face”.
The attacks occurred on November 26, 2024, and January 17, 2025. The two 15-year-old boys were given youth rehabilitation orders (YRO) with intensive supervision and surveillance (ISS) at Southampton Crown Court. A third boy, aged 14, received an 18-month YRO for encouraging one of the rapes.
The victim, who was 15 at the time of the first attack, said the judge's comments made it seem “what the boys did was not OK, but it was OK in the eyes of the law, because they were still children”. She questioned the point of the trial, adding that she “wanted to die” after videos of the rape were shared online and she received abusive messages.
Judge Nicholas Rowland said he had to avoid “criminalising these children unnecessarily” and support their “reintegration into society”, noting that “peer pressure played a large part”. The court heard one defendant had an IQ in the “bottom 1 per cent” and both had ADHD.
The victim's mother called for a custodial sentence, describing the attacks as “premeditated” and “planned”. She appealed to Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, asking: “If it was your daughter, would you be happy?” Chief Secretary Darren Jones said the case would be reviewed urgently, while Hampshire Police and Crime Commissioner Donna Jones criticised the judge's comments praising the boys' conduct.
