Three teenage boys convicted of knife-point rape and other serious sexual offences against two teenage girls in Hampshire have avoided custodial sentences. Judge Nicholas Rowland said he wanted to support the boys' reintegration into society and avoid criminalising them unnecessarily.
The boys, aged between 13 and 14 at the time of the offences, physically overpowered and sexually assaulted the girls, aged 14 and 15, in separate incidents two months apart. The attacks were filmed on mobile phones. The boys were sentenced to youth rehabilitation orders ranging from 18 months to three years.
One 15-year-old boy, convicted of three charges of rape and four counts of taking indecent images, will be subject to 180 days of intensive supervision. The court heard he had an IQ in the bottom 1% of his peers and had been diagnosed with ADHD. Another defendant, also 15, had ADHD and anxiety, while the third, now 14, had a mild cognitive impairment.
Judge Rowland stressed the seriousness of the crimes but noted the boys' young age, low intelligence, limited understanding of consent, and the role of peer pressure. He said: 'None of you need to go to prison today.'
Hampshire's police and crime commissioner, Donna Jones, called the sentences 'far too lenient' and offered support to the victims if they appeal. The first victim, raped in January 2025 after being threatened with a knife, read a poem in court saying: 'All I want to do is die.' The second victim, raped in November 2024 in an underpass by the River Avon, said she feels 'ashamed, insecure and uncomfortable in my own body.'
Siobhan Blake of the Crown Prosecution Service said the case reflects a trend of more serious and violent behaviour in youth-on-youth cases.
