Girl raped by boys spared jail tells BBC judge's decision was like 'rock in my face'

A 16-year-old rape victim described a judge’s decision to spare two teenage boys jail sentences as deeply harmful and legally dismissive. She said the outcome made it seem the abuse was not OK but acceptable under the law because the offenders were treated as children. The attorney general is reviewing the youth rehabilitation order sentences imposed by Judge Nicholas Rowland, who said he wanted to avoid criminalising very young boys. The victim was 15 when raped in an underpass near the River Avon in Hampshire after meeting one offender for the first time following Snapchat contact. The offenders were also convicted in a separate rape of a second victim, and the assaults were filmed and shared online. The Prime Minister called the testimony harrowing and said the case required urgent review.

"“What was the point in putting me through that?” the girl said. She said the judge’s decision “almost made it seem as if what the boys did was not OK, but it was OK in the eyes of the law because they were still children”. She described the impact of the sentencing outcome on how the law appeared to treat the harm done to her."

"The attorney general is to review the youth rehabilitation order sentences given by Judge Nicholas Rowland, who had said on Thursday he wanted to avoid “criminalising” the “very young” boys. Responding to the interview, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said it was “a harrowing and brave testimony”. “The girls at the heart of this case have shown extraordinary bravery and strength in heinous circumstances,” he said, adding that law officers were urgently reviewing the sentences."

"The teenager was 15 when she was raped in an underpass by the River Avon in Fordingbridge, Hampshire. She had travelled to meet one of the boys for the first time in November 2024 after he had begun a “relationship” with her on social media platform Snapchat. The two defendants, who are now 15, were also convicted of attacking a second victim, who was raped in a field in January 2025."

"At the sentencing hearing at Southampton Crown Court, the judge stressed the “seriousness” of the crimes and said the filming of the assaults made them even “more serious”. After making the comments about their age, he praised the boys for how they had behaved during the trial. The boys filmed the rapes on their phones and later shared some of the footage online."

Read at www.bbc.com