LONDON(National Times)- Two British teenagers convicted of rape must serve time in custody, an appeals judge ruled on Thursday, after a public outcry over a judge\u2019s decision to spare them detention.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lower court judge Nicholas Rowland in May sentenced the two 15-year-old boys to three-year youth rehabilitation orders, saying he wanted to \u201cavoid criminalising these children unnecessarily\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, the sentences provoked a severe backlash, prompting Attorney General Richard Hermer \u2014 the government\u2019s chief legal adviser \u2014 to refer them to the Court of Appeal in London for potentially being \u201cunduly lenient\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The teenagers raped two girls, aged 14 and 15, in separate incidents in November 2024 and January 2025 in Hampshire in southern England. Videos of the attacks were shared online.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Quashing the sentences, Judge Sue Carr told the pair, who cannot be named due to their age, they both needed \u201cto go into detention\u201d, and sentenced them to four years\u2019 youth detention.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhat you did was so bad that we have no other choice,\u201d she said, addressing them by video link. The non-custodial sentence handed to a third boy will remain unchanged.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He was convicted of rape charges for encouraging the second defendant in last year\u2019s incident. French rape survivor Gisele Pelicot added her voice to those who criticised the original sentences during a visit to Britain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She told the BBC she was \u201cdeeply 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\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
LONDON(National Times)- Two British teenagers convicted of rape must serve time in custody, an appeals judge ruled on Thursday, after a public outcry over a judge\u2019s 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 \u201cavoid criminalising these […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":128643,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-128642","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-international","entry"],"yoast_head":"\n