Alicia Kearns hits out at 'appalling miscarriage of justice' after teen rapists spared jail after attacking girls aged 14 and 15

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MP Alicia Kearns has expressed her anger and said the initial outcome has left her with "serious questions" about the public's confidence in the justice system.

The attorney general is now set to review the sentencing of three teenage boys, two aged 15 and one aged 14, who were not given custodial sentences after raping two girls, 14 and 15, in two separate attacks in Fordingbridge, Hampshire, in November 2024 and January 2025.

They were all given youth rehabilitation orders (YRO) and the two older boys were also made subject to intensive supervision and surveillance (ISS) after committing what police described as "terrifying acts", which left one of the victims telling the court: "All I want to do is die".

After widespread criticism from the public, a government spokesperson said the attorney general's office had received "multiple" requests for the sentences to be reviewed under the Unduly Lenient Sentence (ULS) scheme and is "urgently reviewing the case with the utmost care and attention".

Speaking to Henry Riley on the review led by the attorney general into the non-custodial sentence, the Conservative MP and shadow safeguarding minister welcomed the decision said the "law does not put rehabilitation above punishment".

She said: "So I'm really pleased it's moving forward. But this is a result of the public speaking out and recognising this was an appalling, appalling miscarriage of justice."

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Ms Kearns said a lot of judges had come out over the past 24 hours talking about rehabilitation when it comes to youth crime, and ensuring that the minors still have futures available to them.

However, she pointed out: "The law does not put rehabilitation above punishment and deterrence. And the problem with this case is if you do not put these boys in prison where they should be - serial gang rapists - then what does that do in terms of punishment?

"And more importantly, what does it do in terms of parents and telling other boys and men: "You do not have an entitlement to my body. You do not have an entitlement to other women's bodies.

"We have to do it not just for those survivors who are brave enough to go to court. And the judge saying: "You should be proud of yourselves for having been brave enough to come (to court)." How dare he? How dare he say that that should be enough for them. They deserve to see long custodial sentences."

In a previous interview with LBC's Shelagh Fogarty, Ms Kearns: "The entire country has seen this judgement and are horrified by it. It's really important that when victims and survivors have the confidence to come forward and trust the justice system that will deliver for them, that they get the justice they deserve.

"We've got a young girl here saying 'I'm fine to die now because it can't be worse than this'.

"[The judge] used the phrase, none of you need to go to prison. He talked about how they were very young, how they had limited understanding, consent.

"If we are really saying that a 14-year-old or a 50-year-old are not equally culpable when they do something that premeditated, then I have serious questions about how anyone can have confidence in the criminal justice system."

One of the 15-year-old boys was sentenced to a youth rehabilitation order (YRO) for three years with 180 days of intensive supervision and surveillance (ISS) for the rape of each of the two girls and two indecent images charges.

The second was handed the same sentence for three charges of rape against each of the two victims and four counts of taking indecent images in relation to filming of the incidents.

The 14-year-old was given an 18-month YRO for two charges of rape in the January incident by encouraging the second defendant and an offence of indecent images.

During the sentencing at Southampton Crown Court on Thursday, Judge Nicholas Rowland told the defendants that he was mindful of their ages.

The judge said: "I have to remember that you are not small adults. I have to think how likely you are to do serious things again and I need to make sure you do not do serious things again in the future."

Explaining his sentence, he said: "I should avoid criminalising these children unnecessarily and understand the effects of their behaviour and support their reintegration into society."

But Ms Kearns told Shelagh that the remarks and leniency fell well below what the public should expect and called on the boys' identified to be lifted.

Under law, they automatically have anonymity until they reach 18.

She said: "It's truly awful. If I'm honest it has memories for me of the [James] Bulger case, but obviously this time involving sexual violence.

"I cannot believe that we are in this situation and I think any woman in this country, particularly any who's a survivor of sexual violence, will just sit there and feel sick in their stomach.

"But there is a chance for this to be rectified, for these girls to get the justice. They will never recover from the trauma they've suffered, that will live with them for their lives.

"I've written to the Attorney General today, Lord Hermer, and I've asked him to review it under something called the unduly lenient sentence scheme, where essentially anyone can refer a sentence and say, I don't think this is right.

"I've just said to him you need to make sure justice is delivered here. You need to make sure these girls get what they deserve and that is the justice that warrants it."

Asked if she thinks the boys should be named, Ms Kearns added: "I think their crimes are so heinous, but I think there is a public interest point where perhaps they should be named.

"How do you know if you live in the Southampton area and your daughter starts a relationship with a young boy of that age, that he's not one of those who committed this heinous crime.

"He was allowed to walk free. If I'm honest, I think he should be named. They should all be named."

The victim of the first incident came to the court for the sentencing hearing and, screened from the view of the boys, read her victim impact statement as well as a poem she had written directed towards her attackers.

She said: "I was caught off-guard, I never want that to happen again, I will never get that innocence back again."

The poem included the line: "All I want to do is die, I no longer have fear for when that comes."

A statement read on behalf of the second victim said her school attendance had suffered and added: "I often feel overwhelmed, anxious and emotionally exhausted to the point where sitting in a classroom becomes unbearable."

The trial heard that the girl in the November incident, who was 15 at the time, had visited the first defendant after meeting him on Snapchat.

The prosecutor said that after performing sex acts on the boy, who was then 14, she became “scared and anxious” when the second defendant joined them with a third boy who was not charged.

Prosecutor Jodie Mittel said that the girl felt "cornered and trapped" and "petrified" as the two defendants raped her while the incident was filmed.

Ms Mittel said that afterwards, videos of the incident had been sent around and other people made jokes about her and she received messages calling her a "slag".

The complainant in the January incident, who was 14 at the time, was raped in a field near to Fordingbridge recreation ground while the incident was also filmed.

A government spokesperson said the attorney general's office had received "multiple" requests for the sentences to be reviewed.

They 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."