Fordingbridge rape case: Judge ‘wrong’ to spare men’s prison

Speaking at the Court of Appeal, Tom Little Casey said: “We accept… the judge tried to apply the relevant principles, but we submit that he applied them in a way that had the cumulative effect of leading to an inappropriately lenient sentence.”

He also said the judge’s sentencing opinion “reflects clear evidence of the significant impact this offense had on both victims and the serious harm it caused.”

Ed Henry Casey, representing Y, said the boy had been made a “pariah” because of an inaccurate press release from the Crown Prosecution Service that had misled the public about the case.

Henry said: “He behaved disgracefully and disgracefully and he certainly deserves punishment.

But the civil disobedience, the opprobrium… greatly aggravated the punishment.

“Parliament decided that a completely different approach was needed when sentencing children,” Henry said.

He said his client was in the bottom one percent of IQs for his age.

“He has a very, very simple understanding of the will.”

Clare Wade Casey, representing Child X, said: “We submit that the learned judge’s sentencing exercise was correctly presented.

“Extensive sentences provide the best opportunity for child offenders to learn and develop and provide the most effective way to protect women and girls by preventing future offending.”

Lady Chief Justice Su Kar criticized the CPS for issuing a press release indicating the men had been charged with “knife rape”.

“The judge made a clear finding to the contrary,” she said.

“I want to know what steps are being taken to prevent something like this from happening again.”

She also expressed concern that it took them weeks to edit the press release.

“How on earth did it take so long for all the inaccurate reporting that was immediately circulating about the nature of this abuse?” she said.

The hearing in front of the Chief Justice, Lord Justice Addis and Ms Justice Norton is scheduled for 2 days.

The children were told to watch the jury’s decision via videolink at Southampton Crown Court on Thursday at 2pm.

The trial continues.