Two teenage boys who walked free after being convicted of raping two girls in Fordingbridge have been sentenced to four years after their original sentence was found to be ‘unduly lenient’.
The case went to the Court of Appeal after nationwide outrage over their sentences, which saw the judge say he wanted to ‘avoid criminalising these children unnecessarily’.
Three boys, two aged 15 and one aged 14, were spared any custodial sentence, and walked free from Southampton Crown Court after being given youth rehabilitation orders.
Judge Nicholas Rowland admitted their offences, which combined was 10 counts of rape and seven indecent image offences, ‘crossed the custody threshold’, but he should ‘avoid criminalising these children unnecessarily’.
This led to public outrage, with one of the victims saying she does not think ‘she will ever be the same’, while the other said: ‘I am the one being punished.’
Even Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer became embroiled in the fall-out from the case, describing it as ‘appalling’ and escalating the decision to the Court of Appeal.
They today decided the sentences of the two 15-year-old boys was ‘unduly lenient’, and they have been sentenced to four years in detention.
The sentence of a 14-year-old boy who encouraged one of the rapes did not change.
Lady Chief Justice Baroness Carr said: ‘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.’
Tom Little KC, speaking for the Attorney General, said the Judge Rowland’s sentencing remarks were ‘entirely lop-sided’ with the discussion of the offenders given much more weight compared to the victims.
In the sentencing judge’s original remarks, the word ‘rape’ was not mentioned, and the impact of the victims was given only a line and a half each.
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Mr Little argued the judge ‘failed to grapple with the seriousness of the offending’.
He said: ‘The judge was wrong to conclude that neither the first victim nor the second victim suffered severe psychological harm.’
Southampton Crown Court heard the perpetrators recorded the attacks on their phones, laughing while outnumbering their ‘cornered and petrified’ victims.
Between them, they were guilty of 10 counts of rape and seven indecent image offences related to two victims.
The Attorney General argued previous sexual activity from the survivors had swayed the judge’s decision, which was described as a ‘significantly outdated approach’.
One of the victim’s, named Jazmine*, said she is ‘traumatised’ and ‘cannot move on’.
She said: ‘When I gave evidence, I was questioned in detail about what I apparently did. I was asked about the details of what happened. I was asked why I had two hands around the perpetrator’s penis.
‘It was implied that I wanted it. It was implied that I was experienced in what I was doing. It was implied that I had chosen it or taken part in it. I cannot explain how humiliating and painful that was.
‘I was 15 years old. I am a child who has been raped. I felt like I was being treated like I had done something wrong. The hardest part was being accused of lying. I knew I was telling the truth.
‘I knew what had happened to me. I tried so hard to do my best whilst talking about something which has left me with such lasting pain. That broke something inside me.’
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