24 May 2026

A girl who was raped by two teenage boys has told the BBC that a judge's decision to spare them jail sentences was like a "rock straight in my face".

Speaking exclusively to Laura Kuenssberg, the girl, now 16, said: "What was the point in putting me through that?"

The girl, who spoke anonymously alongside her family, 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".

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 this 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.

"This is an appalling case and it is right that law officers are urgently reviewing the sentences."

Warning: This story contains details some may find distressing

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. Another boy, now 14, was also convicted for his involvement in the second attack.

The boys filmed the rapes on their phones and later shared some of the footage online.

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.

But the girl and her family want the sentences to be changed, and the boys sent to jail, saying the sentences amounted to a "slap on the wrist".

"Why did I sit and put myself through the pain of going to court, going through a trial, reliving everything because of evidence and watching it all happen again?" the girl said.

"It sort of gave me a sense of what's the point...what was the point in putting me through that just to say that it's fine."

The girl said it took six months to speak up about the attack.

"The reason I said it was because I was losing it. I was spiraling. I needed help, but I didn't know how to get it, so I spoke up," she said.

She said that since the attack, "all I can think about is being sad, being angry, stressed, tired, school, needing a job, trying to pull my life together while I feel like it's falling apart".

The attorney general will have 28 days to decide whether the sentences should be referred to the Court of Appeal.

Cabinet minister Darren Jones told the programme he expects the attorney general to make a decision quicker than that, saying: "We all want to look at this urgently."

He said the girls "deserve justice, as do their families, both for them but also for other girls that are put in that position".

The girl's mother said her world "stopped" when she found out about the attack.

"Everything stopped moving," she said.

She appealed directly to the prime minister, saying: "Please help. If it was your daughter, your niece, your son, your nephew, your family member, would you be happy?

"Because we're not happy and I don't think any other member of the public will be happy too. So you're in a position of power to help, so please help."

Her mother's partner, who was in court with her when the sentences were handed down, said he'd felt "physically sick", when he heard the judge's decision.

He said: "It seems to me like the victims are the ones suffering and the perpetrators are the ones that have seemingly got away scot-free."

In the sentencing hearing, one of the 15-year-olds was given a three-year youth rehabilitation order (YRO) with 180 days of intensive supervision and surveillance for the rape of each of the two girls and two indecent images charges.

The other 15-year-old was given the same sentence for three charges of rape against each of the victims and four counts of taking indecent images.

The 14-year-old boy was given an 18-month YRO for charges of rape in the January 2025 attack by encouraging one of the other defendants.

Reform UK MP Robert Jenrick said justice had not been done.

"If a judge has made a very bad error, which I think has happened in this case, they should be accountable for it," he told the programme.

The family met privately with Jones and separately with Jenrick after this morning's programme.

Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said on Friday she was "sickened" by the case, adding: "The crime could hardly be graver, yet the punishment was no punishment at all."

Ben Maguire MP, Lib Dem Attorney General Spokesperson, described the case as "utterly horrific", adding that the review must be conducted "swiftly and decisively".

Dame Rachel de Souza, the Children's Commissioner for England, said she was "deeply concerned" and that her office would reach out to the families to offer support.

"I don't want any young girl in this country to feel that can happen and not be addressed properly," Dame Rachel said.

A government spokesperson said: "We share the public's shock at the details of this horrific case, and our thoughts are with the young victims during this distressing time.

"The law officers are urgently reviewing the case with the utmost care and attention."