LONDON: Two British teenage boys who were initially spared custodial sentences after being convicted of rape were ordered on Thursday (Jul 2) to serve four years’ detention by London’s Court of Appeal, which ruled that the original sentences were unduly lenient.
The original sentences caused a public and political outcry after three teenage boys avoided custody despite being convicted of raping two girls in separate attacks.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer described the case as appalling, saying before the appeal court ruling that he supported a review of the sentences. His attorney general later referred the case to the Court of Appeal.
The attacks took place in southern England in November 2024 and January 2025.
The two boys whose sentences were increased, referred to in court as X and Y and aged 14 at the time of the offences, were convicted in May of raping both victims and of offences relating to indecent images recorded during the attacks.
Lady Chief Justice Sue Carr, the most senior judge in England and Wales, said the repeated offending by X and Y meant a custodial sentence was “unavoidable.” She said they had been “egging each other on” and making the offences worse by filming them.
“What you both did was so bad that we decided we had no other choice but to make these sentences,” Carr said in delivering the three-judge panel’s ruling.
