Attorney general receives 'multiple' requests to review 'lenient' sentence of boy rapists in Hampshire

The attorney general's office has received "multiple" requests to review the "lenient" sentences given to three boys following the rape of two girls after they were spared jail time.

Former Home Office minister Jess Phillips also condemned the "unduly lenient" sentence, saying it sends a "bad message".

Southampton Crown Court heard two girls were raped in two separate incidents in Fordingbridge, Hampshire, with the first attack taking place on 26 November 2024 and the second on 17 January 2025.

The three teenagers, two aged 15 and one aged 14, were given youth rehabilitation orders (YRO) and the two older boys were also made subject to intensive supervision and surveillance (ISS).

Ms Phillips, who served as minister for safeguarding and violence against women and girls until earlier this month, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "It seems unduly lenient to me and has wider public interest beyond just the case itself in the message that it sends.

"For those young women going through a rape trial like this will not have been a simple thing to do, it will have been many, many months, if not years, to achieve any sort of justice and I am afraid to say it sends a bad message."

Ms Phillips added: "These young people it seems were essentially raping for content in order to put it on social media and share it to their friends gloating about raping these poor young women."

A government spokesperson said the attorney general's office had received "multiple" requests for the sentences to be reviewed under the Unduly Lenient Scheme.

They said: "We share the public's shock at the details of this horrific case, and our thoughts are with the young victims during this distressing time.

"The law officers are urgently reviewing the case with the utmost care and attention."

Hampshire's Police and Crime Commissioner Donna Jones has vowed to support the families of the victims if they wish to appeal the "leniency" of the sentences.

She said: "Their sentences reflect a clear focus on rehabilitation rather than criminalisation. They are far too lenient.

"As they stand, they offer little comfort to their victims as they try to rebuild their lives after such harrowing experiences."

At the sentencing on Thursday, Judge Nicholas Rowland told the trio: "I have to remember that you are not small adults. I have to think how likely you are to do serious things again and I need to make sure you do not do serious things again in the future."

Explaining his sentence, the judge added: "I should avoid criminalising these children unnecessarily and understand the effects of their behaviour and support their reintegration into society."

He added that "peer pressure played a large part in what went on".

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The judge praised the "bravery" of the two victims for giving evidence to the trial and for providing impact statements on how the offences had affected them.

Jodie Mittel KC, prosecuting, told the trial that the girl in the November incident, who was 15 at the time, had visited the first defendant after meeting him on Snapchat.

The prosecutor said that after performing sex acts on the boy, who was then 14, she became "scared and anxious" when the second defendant and the pair raped her while the incident was filmed.

Ms Mittel said that afterwards videos of the incident had been sent around and other people made jokes about her, and she received messages calling her a "slag".

The complainant in the January incident, who was 14 at the time, was raped in a field near to Fordingbridge recreation ground while the incident was also filmed.

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