Teenage boys guilty of raping lone girls

Three teenage boys have been found guilty of taking part in the rapes of lone girls in two separate incidents.

The attacks happened in Fordingbridge, Hampshire, in November 2024 and January 2025.

A 15-year-old boy was convicted at Southampton Crown Court of raping a 15-year-old girl in an underpass on a first date and a 14-year-old girl in a field.

Another 15-year-old boy was found guilty of six counts of being involved in the rapes of both girls and a 14-year-old boy was found guilty of two counts of rape in the second incident. Sentencing was adjourned.

The girls were "significantly outnumbered" and suffered prolonged ordeals, the court heard.

The first victim considered one of the attackers to be her boyfriend after befriending him on Snapchat, prosecutors said.

She travelled to meet him in Fordingbridge, where two other boys unexpectedly appeared.

The girl was "pressured" into having sex while being filmed and feared she might be thrown into a river if she did not comply with their wishes, prosecutors added.

Afterwards, the boys asked her, "Why do you look so sad?" and bought her a drink to "cheer her up", the girl told the court.

After leaving her at a bus stop, she found the defendants had blocked her on social media.

Some of the January attacks were also filmed on one of the boys' phones.

The second victim told police a defendant pushed her down and used a knife to cut her clothing before forcing himself on her.

The footage showed her lying motionless on the ground with "her face buried in her hands", while the video taker egged him on, the prosecutor said.

The 14-year-old boy was found guilty of rape by aiding and abetting two attacks on the second victim.

The perpetrator, one of the 15-year-olds, was convicted of six rape charges - two attacks on the second victim, two on the first victim and two counts involving aiding and abetting the other 15-year-old defendant.

Both 15-year-olds have been convicted of taking indecent photos of a child.

In court, there were gasps and tears from the families of the boys in the public gallery each time another guilty verdict was read out.

The boys, who were all wearing white shirts and had their hair slicked back, also broke down and kept looking over to their families for comfort.

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said the case revealed a "disturbing level of encouragement between young boys, who acted together to rape two young girls".

Lucy Paddick from the CPS said: "My message to boys is that they need to understand consent.

"Somebody must have the freedom and the capacity to consent and if they're not consenting they will be prosecuted.

"Equally if they are a bystander and watching somebody else carry out these sexual acts and they are offering words of encouragement or filming then they could be equally as culpable and may also be prosecuted."

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