Court of Appeal orders detention for teenage boys spared custody for rape convictions

Two British teenagers convicted of rape must serve time in custody, an appeal judge ruled on Thursday, after a public outcry over a judge’s decision to spare them detention. Lower court judge Nicholas Rowland in May sentenced the two 15-year-old boys to three-year youth rehabilitation orders, saying he wanted to “avoid criminalising these children unnecessarily”. However, the sentences provoked a severe backlash, prompting Attorney General Richard Hermer – the government’s chief legal adviser –...

Two teenage boys convicted of rape had initially been given non-custodial sentences.

LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — Two British teenagers convicted of rape must serve time in custody, an appeals judge ruled Thursday, after a public outcry over a judge's decision to spare them detention. Lower court judge Nicholas Rowland in May sentenced the two 15-year-old boys to three-year youth rehabilitation orders, saying he wanted to "avoid criminalising these children unnecessarily". However, the sentences provoked a severe backlash, prompting Attorney General Richard Hermer -- the government's chief legal adviser -- to refer them to the Court of Appeal in London for potentially being "unduly lenient". The teenagers raped two girls, aged 14 and 15, in separate incidents in November 2024 and January 2025 in Hampshire in southern England. Video of the attacks were shared online. Quashing the sentences, Judge Sue Carr told the pair, who cannot be named due to their age, they both needed "to go into detention", and sentenced them to four years' youth detention. "What you did was so bad that we have no other choice," she said, addressing them by video link. The non-custodial sentence handed to a third boy will remain unchanged. He was convicted of rape charges for encouraging the second defendant in last year's incident. French rape survivor Gisele Pelicot added her voice to those who criticised the original sentences during a visit to Britain. She told the BBC she was "deeply shocked that these individuals were in fact able to gain their freedom again when in fact the victims are suffering so hard they will never be able to heal". Pelicot has become a global symbol in the fight against sexual violence after she waived her right to anonymity during the 2024 trial of her ex-husband and dozens of strangers who raped her while she was unconscious. The non-custodial sentences had included 180 days of so-called intensive supervision and surveillance. The teenagers will initially serve their sentences in youth detention as only those aged 18 or over are held in jail.

First judge found to have erred by giving 15-year-olds youth rehabilitation orders for rape of two girls in HampshireTwo 15-year-old boys who were spared custody for the rape of two girls have been sentenced to four years’ detention after the court of appeal ruled their sentences were “unduly lenient”.After a national outcry, the attorney general, Richard Hermer, referred the case to the court to consider whether the sentences given to three boys – identified only as X, Y and Z – were too light Continue reading...

The two 15-year-old boys, known as X and Y, were originally spared custody and given youth rehabilitation orders by a judge in May, but the Court of Appeal has now sentenced them to four years detention

The Court of Appeal said detention was the 'only appropriate sentence'