Overview
- The Court of Appeal quashed the non‑custodial sentences for the two principal defendants and imposed four years' youth detention for each after reviewing the May punishments.
- The three boys were convicted of a combined 10 counts of rape and seven indecent image offences from attacks in Fordingbridge in November 2024 and January 2025.
- The Attorney General referred the original youth rehabilitation orders to the appeal court as unduly lenient, and counsel for the Crown argued detention was the only appropriate sentence.
- Lady Chief Justice Baroness Carr said the sentencing judge had undervalued the seriousness of the offending and the lasting harm to the victims while the court extended the two boys' restraining orders to be indefinite.
- Victims and families welcomed the ruling as recognition of the harm, the boys are pursuing separate appeals against their convictions, and the judgment has prompted renewed attention to how courts balance child welfare, developmental impairment and public protection when sentencing young offenders.