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Jess Phillips, a former minister at the Home Office, has criticized the sentences handed to three teenage boys convicted of raping two girls in separate incidents, describing them as “unduly lenient.” The assaults took place in Fordingbridge, Hampshire, during 2024 and 2025, and were reportedly recorded by the perpetrators on their phones. The videos showed the boys laughing and encouraging each other, with some clips later shared online.
The offenders, two aged 15 and one aged 14, received youth rehabilitation orders (YRO). Additionally, the two older boys were subjected to intensive supervision and surveillance (ISS). Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Phillips remarked on the difficulty faced by the victims in pursuing justice, emphasizing the lengthy trauma involved. She said, “For those young women going through a rape trial like this will not have been a simple thing to do, it will have been many, many months if not years to achieve any sort of justice and I am afraid to say it sends a bad message.”
Phillips, who recently stepped down from her role as minister for safeguarding and violence against women and girls, highlighted the negative influence social media had on the young offenders. She stated, “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.” She added that the sentences were too lenient and had implications beyond the immediate case, affecting public perception of such crimes.
Judge Nicholas Rowland, who imposed the sentences, acknowledged the seriousness of the offenses and noted that filming the assaults exacerbated the gravity of the crimes. However, he emphasized the young age of the boys as a key factor in his decision, explaining he wanted to avoid imprisoning them. The case involved two victims, aged 15 and 14, who were attacked in isolated locations after meeting the boys through social media. The impacts on the victims’ mental health were severe, with one describing feelings of isolation and deterioration in mental well-being, and the other struggling with anxiety and nightmares. Jess Phillips has offered support to the victims’ families should they seek to challenge the sentences. Hampshire Police and Crime Commissioner Donna Jones also expressed that the sentences offered little comfort to the victims
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