Starmer 'appalled' by case of boys spared jail after raping teenage girls

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has described a case in which three teenage boys were spared custodial sentences over the rape of two girls as "appalling". He added that it was "right" that the sentences given by a judge at Southampton Crown Court were being reviewed by Attorney General Lord Richard Hermer. Two girls, then aged 15 and 14, were raped in separate incidents in Fordingbridge, Hampshire, in November 2024 and January 2025, by two 14-year-olds. Another boy, then 13, was also convicted for his involvement in the second attack. Sir Keir said the girls had "shown extraordinary bravery and strength in heinous circumstances". At a sentencing hearing for the boys on Thursday, Judge Nicholas Rowland said he wanted to "avoid criminalising these children unnecessarily". Instead, the boys were given Youth Rehabilitation Orders (YROs) - community sentences given to children, which can include unpaid work, curfews or a requirement to undertake treatment. But one of their victims told the BBC's Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg programme that the decision was like a "rock straight in my face". The girl, now 16, said it "almost made it seem as if what the boys did was not OK, but it was OK