THREE boys have been found guilty of taking part in the rapes of girls in two separate incidents in Fordingbridge.
The boys, two aged 15 and one aged 14, were convicted of crimes after attacks in the town in November 2024 and January 2025.
At Southampton Crown Court:
- A 15-year-old boy was convicted of raping a 15-year-old girl in an underpass and a 14-year-old girl in a field.
- A 15-year-old boy was found guilty of six counts of being involved in the rapes of both girls.
- A 14-year-old boy was found guilty of two counts of rape in the second incident.
They will be sentenced at a later date.
The court was told the victims were “significantly outnumbered” and suffered prolonged ordeals, with the victim in the first incident said to have considered one of the attackers to be her boyfriend after they met on social media.
She travelled to meet him in Fordingbridge, where two other boys unexpectedly appeared, the court was told, before she was “pressured” into having sex.
She was filmed during the incident and feared she might be thrown into a river if she did not comply, prosecutors said, with the boys asking her afterwards why she looked “so sad”.
The second attacks, in January, were also filmed, the court heard, with the second victim telling police a defendant pushed her down and used a knife to cut her clothing before attacking her.
Footage showed her lying motionless on the ground while the person filming urged her attacker on.
The 14-year-old boy was found guilty of rape by aiding and abetting two attacks on the second victim.
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.
After the verdicts Lucy Paddick, from the Crown Prosecution Service (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.
“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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