Three teenagers have been found guilty of two "disturbing" rapes which were "brazenly filmed"
Three “brazen” teenagers have been found guilty following the “disturbing” rape of two girls in a Hampshire town.
A trial at Southampton Crown Court heard how two girls were raped in two separate incidents in Fordingbridge, Hampshire, with the first attack taking place on November 26, 2024 and the second on January 17, 2025.
Lucy Paddick, of the Crown Prosecution Service, said: “This is a deeply concerning case which involved a disturbing level of encouragement between young boys, who acted together to rape two young girls in separate incidents.”
A 15-year-old boy was found guilty of one charge of rape and another 15-year-old defendant was convicted of three charges of rape in connection with the November incident.
The first defendant was also found guilty of one count of rape and the second defendant was convicted of three charges of rape in connection with the January incident.
As the verdict against the 14-year-old was announced by the foreman of the jury, a man in the public gallery started crying and said “that’s my son” before he was asked to leave the court by the judge.
The first defendant was also found guilty of taking indecent photos of a child and the second defendant previously pleaded guilty to four charges of taking indecent photos of a child.
Jodie Mittel KC, prosecuting, told the trial the girl in the November incident, who was 15 at the time, had first come into contact with the first defendant on Snapchat.
The prosecutor said the girl travelled from her home to visit him and they had been chatting in the park, before the girl agreed to go to an underpass where she agreed to perform sex acts on the boy, who was then 14, until they were disturbed by passers-by.
The prosecutor said the girl became “scared and anxious” when the second defendant, who was also 14 at the time, and a third boy who is not the third defendant, arrived and began “pressuring her and they recorded her”.
Prosection said: “The word she used to describe how she was feeling was petrified.
“(She) says she did agree but only because she didn’t know what would happen if she didn’t say yes.”
She said the boys and the girl went back to the underpass where the victim said she felt “cornered and trapped” as the two defendants raped her and the second defendant filmed.
Ms Mittel said the girl said she felt “numb” and added: “She says she was shaking and saying the boys were just laughing and recording what happened.”
Ms Mittel said the incident lasted around 90 minutes, adding: “She was feeling sick, felt like she was about to pass out, the other boys were recording whilst she sat in silence trying her best not to cry.”
Ms Mittel said that afterwards videos of the incident had been sent around and other people made jokes about her and she received messages calling her a “slag”.
The complainant in the January incident, who was 14 at the time, told police she had been with two friends before they went home, leaving her with three other girls before the three defendants arrived, Ms Mittel said.
The first defendant threatened her with a knife and told her to leave her phone with an Airtag tracking device in a convenience store before making her walk to the recreation ground and a nearby field where the rape took place, the court heard.
Ms Mittel said CCTV footage did not show a knife and a girl witness had described the complainant saying that she needed to “ditch” her phone so her mother could not track her.
Ms Paddick added: “These girls were forced into sexual activity by boys who brazenly filmed the deeply distressing incidents.
“After speaking with the victims in this case and reviewing an extensive file of evidence, it was the Crown Prosecution Service’s case that these girls were violated and could not have consented to these terrifying encounters.
“The CPS worked closely with Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary to support the victims and other young witnesses to give their evidence, and we commend them for the courage they showed throughout this trial.”
Judge Nicholas Rowland adjourned the case until a date for sentencingthe three defendants is set, and released them on conditional bail.