Overview
- Three boys were convicted at Southampton Crown Court of multiple rapes that took place in Fordingbridge, Hampshire, with the trial concluded in March 2026 and guilty verdicts returned against defendants aged 13 to 15 at the time.
- At sentencing in May 2026 Judge Nicholas Rowland imposed youth rehabilitation orders rather than immediate custody, saying he wanted to avoid ‘criminalising’ very young defendants and citing cognitive vulnerabilities and ADHD as mitigating factors.
- Attorney General Lord Hermer has formally referred those non‑custodial sentences to the Court of Appeal under the Unduly Lenient Sentences scheme to consider whether the penalties are too light.
- Victims have described severe, ongoing trauma including vivid flashbacks, inability to sleep and fear of leaving home, and prosecutors argued the assaults involved filming, threats with a knife, group offending and should be treated as causing the highest‑level harm.
- Ministry of Justice data show nearly three in four under‑18s convicted of rape from 2021–2025 avoided immediate custody, a statistic now cited by ministers, prosecutors and commentators as the Court of Appeal prepares to rule and as debate grows over youth sentencing policy.