The attorney general is to review the sentencing of three teenage boys who raped two girls in separate attacks, after criticism their sentences were too lenient.
The boys, two aged 15 and one 14, were not given custodial sentences for the attacks in Fordingbridge, Hampshire, in 2024 and 2025.
They “brazenly filmed” the rapes on their phones and later shared some of the footage online. The teenagers were given youth rehabilitation orders (YRO) and walked out of court with 11 rape convictions between them.
A government spokesperson said the attorney general’s office had received “multiple” requests for the sentences to be reviewed under the Unduly Lenient Sentence (ULS) scheme.
Speaking on the Today programme on Saturday, Wendy Joseph, former Old Bailey criminal judge, said that had an adult committed a similar crime, the sentence would be “15 years plus”, given the age of the victims, the fact a knife was present and that the assaults were being filmed.
Source: Attorney general to review Fordingbridge teen boys’ rape sentences