Full story
Review after non-custody
The attorney-general launched an “urgent” review of the sentences given to three teenage boys who avoided jail after they raped two lone girls in Fordingbridge, Hampshire, with the boys walking out of court this week after being convicted at Southampton Crown Court.
“launched an “urgent” review of the sentences”
The BBC said the government will review the sentencing under the Unduly Lenient Sentence (ULS) scheme after the boys were given youth rehabilitation orders (YRO) and “walked out of court with 11 rape convictions between them.”
Judge Nicholas Rowland explained his approach by saying: “I should avoid criminalising these children unnecessarily and understand the effects of their behaviour and support their reintegration into society.”
The Times reported that Lord Hermer is considering whether to refer the case to the Court of Appeal to decide if the attackers should have received a tougher punishment, after the rapists were convicted of ten rape charges between them.
The Times also said the rapists were aged 13, 14 and 14 at the time, and that the attacks involved filming on their phones and laughing as they “outnumbered” their victims.
MPs and police fury
Former Home Office minister Jess Phillips condemned the sentences as “unduly lenient” and told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “It seems unduly lenient to me and has wider public interest beyond just the case itself in the message that it sends.”
The Guardian reported that Phillips said the case sent a “bad message” and added that “These young people, it seems, were essentially raping for content in order to put it on social media and share it to their friends, gloating about raping these poor young women.”
Hampshire police and crime commissioner Donna Jones backed any appeal, saying she was “deeply concerned these boys felt they could carry out such terrifying acts and share them online and not go to prison.”
The BBC said Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch called the sentences “a disgrace” and shadow Justice Minister Dr Kieran Mullan said: “It cannot be right that teenage boys can commit brutal crimes of rape like this and avoid prison entirely.”
In court, the first girl told the court: “All I want to do is die, I no longer have fear for when that comes,” while the second girl said: “I feel emotionally numb and detached from those around me.”
What happens next
The BBC said the attorney general’s office has received “multiple” requests for the sentences to be reviewed under the Unduly Lenient Sentence (ULS) scheme, and that law officers, the attorney general and the solicitor general are “urgently reviewing the case with the utmost care and attention.”
“up to 28 days to make a decision”
Under the same BBC account, the review gives the attorney general’s office “up to 28 days” to make a decision before it could refer the case to the Court of Appeal for a hearing.
The Times reported that the referral would be considered under the unduly lenient sentence scheme after submissions requested that Lord Hermer refer the case, with the referral based on whether the sentences “do not properly reflect the gravity of the crimes.”
The Guardian said the government spokesperson stated it shared “the public’s shock at the details of this horrific case” and that “the law officers are urgently reviewing the case with the utmost care and attention.”
For the victims, the BBC reported that one victim described suffering nightmares and struggling to sleep, saying: “I feel ashamed, insecure and uncomfortable in my own body,” as the review process begins for sentences that left the boys without custodial punishment.
