three teenage boys were <\/a>given youth rehabilitation orders after two were convicted of rape and one was convicted of involvement in the attacks. The victims were two girls aged 15 and 14, who were attacked in separate incidents in Fordingbridge, Hampshire.<\/p>\nThose sentences have been referred to the court of appeal by the attorney general, the government\u2019s top law officer, for being unduly lenient. Keir Starmer described the case as \u201cappalling\u201d.<\/p>\n
Youth courts are normally closed to the press and public. But specialist advisers to the young girls in the three newly revealed cases were so appalled by the sentences they decided to expose the alleged lenient punishments being passed in youth courts for serious sexual offences.<\/p>\n
In one case, a young male aged 14 at the time of his offences was found guilty of raping a victim aged 16 or over in August 2023, as well as sexual assault by penetration in August 2023 and the sexual assault of a girl aged 15 in February 2023.<\/p>\n
He was sentenced under youth court rules in a hearing at Teesside magistrates court on 4 December 2025 and given a youth rehabilitation order, a \u00a326 fine, which is the court fee, and was placed on the sex offenders register for 30 months.<\/p>\n
In another case, a boy aged 15 was convicted of a serious sexual assault against a girl aged 14. He was found guilty of sexual assault by penetration in April 2024.<\/p>\n
The boy was sentenced in July 2025 and placed on the sex offender register for 42 months, given a youth rehabilitation order, fined \u00a326 and given a restraining order preventing him from approaching or contacting the victim.<\/p>\n
In another case a 17-year-old male was sentenced in September 2025 after being convicted of the rape of a girl aged 15. He was given a youth rehabilitation order, a \u00a326 fine and a requirement to be on the sex offender register for 30 months. The convicted rapist turned 18 this month.<\/p>\n
The victim in that case, now aged 16, told the Guardian her attacker should have been jailed. \u201cI didn\u2019t feel as though the punishment given was justice for me and what happened. He is still able to live his life normally and do what he wants. This isn\u2019t a deterrent for others. Boys think they can do what they want so they make bad choices and take bad actions.\u201d<\/p>\n
Explaining why she believed imprisonment was the right sentence, she said: \u201cThat way he would have time to reflect on what he did and it would mean this didn\u2019t happen to anyone else because of him.\u201d<\/p>\n
She was 15 when attacked by the boy, whom she knew, and said her rapist being freed by the court despite being convicted had added to her continuing trauma. \u201cI am worried about bumping into this person and I am worried for other people in case he does this again after no real consequence,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know where he is or what he is doing. I am constantly looking over my shoulder. I trust people less because of this.\u201d<\/p>\n
She added: \u201cIt would be good for the public to know the struggles with emotions this has caused and to understand the impacts on me as a young person.\u201d<\/p>\n
She said her attacker had made a choice to rape her and should be on the sex offender register for life, not 30 months.<\/p>\n
These cases only came to light because official victim advocates from the Rape and Sexual Abuse Counselling Centre (RSACC) covering Darlington and County Durham, who attended court to support the victims, witnessed the sentences and were horrified.<\/p>\n
They first raised concerns within the criminal justice system but said there had been little or no sign of action. They believe radical change is urgently needed.<\/p>\n
Isabel Owens, the chief executive of RSACC, said: \u201cIt takes incredible bravery for a survivor of sexual violence to report what has happened to them<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are deeply concerned about the trend we are seeing towards more lenient consequences for young perpetrators\u2019 actions and the impact this may have on behaviours and reporting rates in future.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe survivors who have experienced these outcomes say they feel hopeless and worried for other young people who might fall victim to the crimes of individuals who are not being held meaningfully accountable. They are rightly questioning whether reporting to the police and enduring the process is worth it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Leonie Hodge of Justice Is Now, which campaigns for survivors of sexual violence, said: \u201cYou would be charged more for a parking ticket than for rape. A \u00a326 fine for rape is laughable and insulting to the public who put trust and faith and taxes into a system which is not protecting these girls. This is pure impunity for the attackers.<\/p>\n
\u201cTeenagers raping other teenagers should not become a socially accepted norm. We fear it is.\u201d<\/p>\n
Victims of sexual violence are granted lifelong anonymity by the law. Those convicted in youth courts, because of their young age, also have anonymity.<\/p>\n
The Ministry of Justice neither condemned nor justified the sentences, saying they do not comment on individual cases. \u201cSentencing decisions are made by independent judges in line with sentencing guidelines,\u201d said a spokesperson.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are clear that punishments must fit the severity of the crime, and custody should always be considered for serious offences. This government is determined to do all we can to make sure victims have confidence they will get justice.\u201d<\/p>\n
Stephanie Roberts-Bibby, the chief executive of the Youth Justice Board, said: \u201cIt is also important that individual judges and frontline youth justice services are not unfairly critiqued for applying the legal framework and the evidence they are required to consider in such cases.<\/p>\n
\u201cNevertheless, confidence in the justice system matters, particularly in cases involving violence against women and girls, and it is essential that public concern is not dismissed.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe overwhelming majority of children do not commit offences of this seriousness. But where they do, the response must balance accountability, public protection, victim harm, deterrence and the long-term goal of preventing future violence.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Three teenage boys convicted of the rape and serious sexual assault of girls as young as 14 were…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":610383,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[59,57,58,50,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-610382","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-kingdom","tag-gb","tag-great-britain","tag-greatbritain","tag-news","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/610382","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=610382"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/610382\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/610383"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=610382"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=610382"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=610382"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}