A judge was condemned on Thursday for a 'sickening case of soft justice' after a teenage traveller gang who raped two lone schoolgirls were spared jail.

Two 14-year-old boys targeted one victim, 15, on Snapchat before luring her to an underpass where they laughed and filmed themselves as they attacked her.

Two months later, when they were joined by another boy aged 13, they gang-raped a second girl, 14, at knifepoint while again recording the attack on their phones as they goaded each other to degrade her further.

The attacks took place in Fordingbridge, Hampshire, in 2024 and 2025.

The trio – all from the traveller community – were convicted of rape in March. The two older boys were also found guilty of taking indecent images of a child, relating to the filmed recordings.

But at a sentencing hearing at Southampton Crown Court, a judge told all three they had 'done very well' dealing with restrictions imposed during the trial. The two older boys were given three-year youth rehabilitation orders instead of being jailed.

The youngest boy was given an 18-month rehabilitation order. These orders carry a range of different requirements such as unpaid work. All three were also given a ten-year restraining order.

Judge Nicholas Rowland told them: 'None of you need to go to prison today.' He said they were very young, had low intelligence, a limited understanding of consent and were susceptible to peer pressure.

Mr Rowland added: 'None of you have been in any big trouble before. You have all done very well with the restrictions put in place throughout the trial.'

But Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp said: 'These despicable youths should have been jailed. This is a sickening case of soft justice.

'Repeated gang rapes against schoolgirls deserve the harshest penalties – as a punishment and as a deterrent. This soft judge is sending a signal that these appalling crimes will go without proper punishment, encouraging other offenders.'

He said that Labour claimed it wanted to halve violence against women and girls but that rape was up almost 10 per cent under this Government.

He added: 'With soft sentences like this it's no surprise. The Government needs to urgently grip this situation and ensure proper sentences get handed down.'

Donna Jones, Hampshire Police and Crime Commissioner, said: 'I'm deeply concerned these boys felt they could carry out such terrifying acts and share them online and not go to prison.

'Their sentences reflect a clear focus on rehabilitation rather than criminalisation. They are far too lenient. They offer little comfort to their victims as they try to rebuild their lives after such harrowing experiences.'

Screened from view, the victim of the first incident described how her mental health had deteriorated since the attack, leading her to isolate herself from her friends. She said: 'I was caught off-guard, I never want that to happen again, I will never get that innocence back again.'

In a statement read on her behalf, the second victim said: 'I often feel overwhelmed, anxious and emotionally exhausted... I feel ashamed, insecure and uncomfortable in my own body.'