Court of Appeal to Review Sentences in Hampshire Rape Case Amid Calls for Justice System Reform
- GINA
- 4 days ago
- 4 min read
In November 2024, two boys, then aged 14, raped a 15-year-old girl in an underpass in Fordingbridge, Hampshire. The girl had reportedly met one of her attackers on the online platform, Snapchat, where he asked her to be his girlfriend before arranging to meet in person. After what she told police was consensual sexual activity, the boy’s friend arrived and pressured her to have a threesome. She agreed but later told police she felt “trapped” adding: "I was so scared, disgusted. I honestly thought it was all my fault."
Just two months later, in January 2025, the same two boys repeatedly raped a second girl, aged 14, on Fordingbridge Recreation Ground. A third boy, then aged 13, was also present. CCTV footage shown in court showed him shouting encouragement at his comrades as the girl lay still on the ground, her face in her hands.
The two older boys were found guilty at a trial at Southampton Crown Court in March, with 10 rape convictions between them. The third boy was found guilty of rape by aiding and abetting.
Despite the severity of the crimes committed, the sentences they received shocked the girls, their families and the wider public.
3-year Youth Rehabilitation Orders (YRO) with 180 days of intensive surveillance and supervision were given to the two older boys and an 18-month YRO was given to the third boy.
According to the Sentencing Council for England and Wales, courts are expected to prioritise rehabilitation for children with custody only used in extreme cases. Judge Nicholas Rowland emphasised this principle in court: “I should avoid criminalising these children unnecessarily and understand the effects of their behaviour and support their reintegration into society.”
But for the girls subjected to these attacks, the judge’s sentences felt like betrayal.
The first girl described the judge’s decision as a “rock straight in my face”, asking: "Why did I sit and put myself through the pain of going to court, going through a trial, reliving everything because of evidence and watching it all happen again?... It sort of gave me a sense of what's the point... what was the point in putting me through that just to say that it's fine."
The second girl expressed similar frustration, telling the BBC she felt “undermined, unheard, not listened to” by lawyers during the court case.
This frustration only adds to the immense distress and trauma both girls face in the aftermath of such a horrific event. The first girl detailed how isolated she has become since the attack and that her mental health had spiralled. In a poem she had written to read in court, was the line: “All I want to do is die, I no longer have fear for when that comes.”.
The second girl told BBC Newsnight Victoria Derbyshire she suffers “vivid flashbacks”, struggles to get out of bed and is falling behind at school. “I am losing out on the potential I would have had if none of this had happened,” she said. “I feel ashamed, insecure and uncomfortable in my own body… it doesn’t feel like my own body anymore.”
These experiences reflect a wider pattern. Rape Crisis’ “Living in Limbo” 2025 report finds that ‘‘Many victims and survivors of sexual violence and abuse speak about the impact of trial delays as equal to, if not worse than, the impact of the offe
nce(s) at the centre of these trials.”
Isabel Owens, the chief executive of RSACC*, warned: “It takes incredible bravery for a survivor of sexual violence to report what has happened to them. We are deeply concerned about the trend we are seeing towards more lenient consequences for young perpetrators’ actions and the impact this may have on behaviours and reporting rates in future.”
Reporting rates are already falling due to delays in the Crown Court system and widespread mistrust of the criminal justice process.
Rape Crisis UK finds that delays are so extreme that the backlog is at 80,000 cases, 13,000 of which are sexual offence cases. This number is projected to rise to over 150,000 in the next half-decade and will continue to rise if our justice system is not dramatically reformed.
Former Home Office minister Jess Phillips condemned the Hampshire sentences as “unduly lenient” and went on to criticise the justice system as a whole. In reference to the Southport inquiry, she said “We are essentially asking the girls in Fordingbridge… [to] suck it up for the sake of the perception of what is best for the perpetrators. I think absolutely this all needs looking at.”
In an open letter written by “fellow victims and survivors” and published by Open Justice For All, a campaign dedicated to improving the justice system for those affected by sexual violence and abuse, the authors emphasised the importance of survivor involvement in reform:
“We are not outside this system – we are the ones who move through it. Our voices must shape what comes next.”
This case illustrates precisely why that must happen. A justice system that leaves victims retraumatised, unheard and unsupported is a broken system.
The boys’ sentences are currently being reconsidered by the Court of Appeal, with a decision expected later this month.
Regardless of the outcome, the deeper issue remains. Urgent reform to the UK justice system is essential in order to protect victims’ personal safety and mental health, grant them the justice they deserve and allow them to move forward with their lives.
* Rape and Sexual Assault Counselling Centre RSACC offers specialist services and support to survivors who have experienced any form of sexual violence. - RSACC
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