Outrage is growing in the UK after three teenage boys convicted of raping two girls avoided prison sentences — a decision Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer says is now under urgent review.

According to cbinews.tv, UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has described as “appalling” a controversial case in which three teenage boys convicted of raping two girls were spared jail sentences.

The attacks happened in Hampshire between November 2024 and January 2025, involving girls aged 15 and 14. Two boys, both aged 14 at the time, carried out the assaults, while another boy aged 13 was convicted over his role in one of the incidents.

Despite the seriousness of the crimes, Southampton Crown Court handed the boys Youth Rehabilitation Orders instead of custodial sentences. The judge said he wanted to avoid “criminalising these children unnecessarily”.

The ruling has sparked widespread anger across the UK, especially after one of the victims told the BBC the sentence felt like “a rock straight in my face”. She said it made it seem as though what happened to them “was OK in the eyes of the law because they were still children”.

The girls’ families are now pushing for the sentences to be reviewed and tougher punishment imposed, arguing the ruling was little more than a “slap on the wrist”.

Starmer praised the courage of the victims, saying the girls showed “extraordinary bravery and strength in heinous circumstances”. He also backed the Attorney General’s decision to urgently review the sentences.

The case has drawn even more outrage after it emerged the boys filmed the assaults and shared parts of the footage online.

The Attorney General now has 28 days to decide whether the sentences should be referred to the Court of Appeal.

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