A terrible crime unpunished!! Imho 🙄

I feel very sorry for the victims, being raped leaves a lasting legacy regardless of the age of the perpetrators.

A very sad case all round. I can see why the judge did not want to criminalise children and also can't see that imprisonment would change their attitudes & behaviour more than the non-custodial punishments given to them. Isolating them from females in prison might make them resentful & even more dangerous in adult life.

Just such a shocking & sad case all round.

I am absolutely furious about this. The judge seems more concerned about the effect prison might have on the boys than about the damage that has been done to the victims.
The boys had a choice. The girls didn't.
Words fail me.

eddiecat78

I am absolutely furious about this. The judge seems more concerned about the effect prison might have on the boys than about the damage that has been done to the victims.
The boys had a choice. The girls didn't.
Words fail me.

I agree.
And I can understand how the judge wouldn’t want to criminalise children but these are very serious crimes which have damaged young girls who will now have to suffer the psychological consequences of rape for the rest of their lives.
The victims are not being considered.

I agree this seems shocking but these boys were described as having low intelligence and cognitive impairment.

This:

Rebecca Hitchen, spokesperson at the End Violence Against Women Coalition (EVAW), said: “We are hearing that young men are perpetrating more and more sexually violent crimes, and this case is a horrific example of this.

“We must question what young men are being taught and exposed to that results in them planning and executing such appalling violence as a group, particularly given the additional harm and degradation caused by the assaults being filmed.”

She said sexual violence devastates victims’ lives, and its effects ripple out across their communities, “creating a source of heightened fear for women and girls trying to go about their daily lives”.

“While we do not know the online environments these boys were exposed to, online misogyny is so pervasive that few young people will escape its reach.

"Questions must be asked about the extent to which misogynistic content online has contributed to the extreme harm they have committed. While perpetrators must be held accountable, we must also ensure that tech platforms are put under scrutiny for their role in such harm,” she added.

www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026/may/21/boys-convicted-of-get-non-custodial-sentences-as-judge-says-they-should-not-be-criminalised-unnecessarily

Anyone seen what has been revealed about Robert Kenyon, Reform’s candidate for the Makerfield by-election? The vulgar misogyny about female public figures including sportswomen is appalling and yet this man, who Reform claim to have vetted, is already a councillor and is now standing (again) for a seat in Parliament. Almost 13,000 voted for him in 2024 and no doubt thousands will again on 18 June.

hopenothate.org.uk/2026/05/21/reform-candidate-makerfield-kenyon/

What standard is being set when a political party, tipped to win the next general election, is represented by men like this?

They will absolutely re offend.
Feminists have been talking for years about porn and the impact of porn. But nobody really cared.

It’s appalling, at least if locked away, women and girls will be safe for a while!

eddiecat78

I am absolutely furious about this. The judge seems more concerned about the effect prison might have on the boys than about the damage that has been done to the victims.
The boys had a choice. The girls didn't.
Words fail me.

. Had they been sentenced, they'd be sent to a Young Offenders Institution for under 18s.

What do you think the effect would be on boys, provided with a male teenage audience to boast their exploits to? Naming and describing the girls. Years spent boasting and fantasising about sex, porn and cruelty. A very interrupted education.

15 is a terrible age to arrest normal social maturation and development. Would they come out safer around women, or higher risk.

""Their sentences reflect a clear focus on rehabilitation "

IF their immaturity, youth and family background means rehabilitation is possible, that is surely the best outcome for the rest of society.

It's a bad taste in the mouth :-(

How would you feel if the victims were your DGDs?

Low intelligence is irrelevant - they were intelligent enough to be able to search the internet, access the various sites they did that informed their decision to commit these awful crimes, not once, but on two seperate occasions.

As any parent knows our children have to learn right from wrong and where boundaries are. We need also to remember that to release these children back to family, friends and others round them for them to get off such a heinous crime without any separation period from those family and friends is passing the message to those around them, especially their peer group of fellow boys that what they did is seen as being of no importance. It doesn't matter what you do to a girl, if youare young enough you can get away with it.

These boys are too young to go to formal youth custody, but I think they should be treated like other serious child offenders and kept in therapeutic and safe custody until they are the age to go to a Youth detention centre for a short period to know before they are released how unpleasant a real prison is. They should also be put on the Sex Offenders register for 10-15 years

Galaxy

They will absolutely re offend.
Feminists have been talking for years about porn and the impact of porn. But nobody really cared.

Sadly I believe you are right, if these boys have already displayed a predatory pattern and efffectively got away with rape, I imagine they will re-offend.
And future victims will not thank the judge for such leniency.

They have been sentenced to Youth Rehabilitation Orders although the details have not been made public as far as I can see.

There are 15 different available YRO requirements:

•activity requirement (maximum 90 days)
•supervision requirement
•unpaid work (16 and 17-year olds only; 40-240 hours)
•programme requirement
•attendance centre requirement (maximum 12 hours for children aged 10–13; between 12 and 24 hours for 14–15-year olds; and between 12 and 36 hours for 16–17-year-olds)
•prohibited activity requirement
•curfew requirement (maximum 12 months and between two and 20 hours a day)
•exclusion requirement (maximum three months)
•residence requirement (16- and 17-year olds)
•local authority residence requirement (maximum six months, but not for any period after young person attains age of 18)
•mental health treatment requirement
•drug treatment requirement
•drug testing requirement (14-17-year olds only)
•intoxicating substance treatment requirement
•education requirement
•electronic monitoring requirement (attached to curfew or GPS location monitoring)

yjlc.uk/resources/legal-terms-z/youth-rehabilitation-order-yro

I agree with b&J that a custodial sentence in a toxic male environment could make their behaviour worse.

Thank you Graphite for the Reform revelations. I have started a separate thread for it:

www.gransnet.com/forums/news_and_politics/1358538-Reform-Disgusting-Misogyny-and-more

Meanwhile, I am appalled about these sentences and the attitude. We have to curb the worst of SM. We have no choice before more minds are poisoned:

but need to be aware its not just coming from Social Media.

At my gym today I met a young woman whose Stepfather had raped her aged 17.

(Introduced by a mutual friend, as I am struggling with reporting a relatively minor sexual assault last October and much inaction or disbelief before it was confirmed and we shared guilt feelings (as it was a man I regarded as a kind father figure in a context that shook have been very safe, but like her was initially not believed by some) - she is over the guilt now and a lovely and strong young woman cared for by my friend

It took her 7 years to reach court, so much courage, as he whole family disowned her. it was only due to one very and and persistent policeman who ignored others, and publicity made other men he had raped to come forward.

In this atmosphere despite all thats coming out, these young men are treated with sympathy.

Yes, punishment, but at their or any age, some pretty brutal re-education.

Of course it might be useful to explore their background as well but that won't happen

Am sorry about what you have been going through and what the young woman you know has been going through Wyllow3.
Of course it is incredibly hard for girls and women to get justice for sexual offences committed against them, many don’t even report it, so the message this sends out to girls and women is that their suffering is once again of little consequence. And the message it sends out to boys, groomed by the likes of the Tate brothers or influenced by violent porn sites, is that they can get away with it.

It was so good to hear her speak out in recovery but so many years of her young life. 😡

I read the news of this appalling violence against young girls and I wept.

I read the news of this appalling sentencing and wept again.

For those of us who disagree with these sentences it is possible to request a sentence review.
www.gov.uk/ask-crown-court-sentence-review

We are complicit if we are silent.

If they behave like animals they should be kept in cages.

Thanks for that Fairiscable, will try to do that later today.
My guess is that if these boys had burgled people’s homes or been gang members dealing drugs the sentencing would have been much harsher, indeed the judge probably wouldn’t be bothered about criminalising them then.
It shows how little the judicial system ranks the rape if underage girls.

Galaxy, reports on the offenders background will have been prepared and given to the judge for consideration before sentencing.

I meant as a society, rather than a one dimensional focus on social media.

A sentence review is to take place.

M0nica

A sentence review is to take place.

Yes it is, a review of the judiciary should also take place.

What message does such lenient sentencing send to other youths? That if you're young enough you can rape, film it, post it on the internet and you'll not get locked away because nobody wants to 'criminalise' you for your criminal acts. The victims have been totally disregarded, what justice do they get? One received messages afterwards calling her a slag. She read out a poem she'd written from behind a screen ""All I want to do is die, I no longer have fear for when that comes."

If a male is old enough and capable of rape then they should serve the appropriate sentence for rape, regardless of their age.

Females once again, victimised by the rape and again by the judicial process 😡😡😡