THE family of a teenage rape victim has urged David Lammy to scrap plans to lower youth jail targets after her attackers, both aged 15, walked free.
The two victims, then aged 15 and 14, were raped in separate incidents in Fordingbridge, Hampshire, between November 2024 and January 2025.
The two 15-year-old boys forced one girl into a “threesome” in an underpass in Fordingbridge, Hampshire, in November 2024.
They were also accused of raping a second girl, aged 14, in January last year along with a third boy, who was aged 13 at the time.
However, the boys all avoided prison when they were sentenced over the attacks, sparking public outcry.
Now, the first victim’s family is demanding an immediate and complete halt to David Lammy‘s proposals to overhaul the youth justice system.
The Justice Secretary’s plans include a pledge to cut the number of children in custody by a fifth over the next three years.
Speaking out, the girl’s family said they wanted to meet Sir Keir Starmer “not just as a prime minister, but as a parent” to force a rethink, reports The Times.
The Attorney General has already referred the sentences to the Court of Appeal, a move the family hopes will see the boys jailed.
They warned that anything short of custody would be a “failure of the justice system.”
Mr Lammy has previously argued that imprisoning children makes them more likely to reoffend, pointing to official data showing that more than two-thirds of children released from custody reoffend within a year, compared to just over a third of those on community sentences.
He maintained that while custody remains necessary for the most serious offences to protect the public, short spells inside can cause “lasting damage” and expose children to further violence.
The Ministry of Justice reiterated that judges retain the power to hand out prison sentences for the most serious crimes.
Currently, sentencing guidelines state a custodial sentence should only be imposed on a child if the offence is so serious that no other punishment is appropriate.
Community sentences currently account for 72 per cent of all youth sentences.
However, the victim’s family is demanding a total overhaul of these guidelines.
The victim’s mother said: “I think [the sentences] were passed without the victims in mind. The victims have been given a life sentence. The boys have been given a community order.
“Sentencing guidelines need to be adjusted and the judges need to be held accountable.
“They also need to make sure that rehabilitation is robust. They need to make sure that the youth custodial centres are not just a breeding ground for more crime.
“They need to make sure there’s actual evidential rehabilitation that’s happening from those centres.
“If those centres were working correctly, there wouldn’t be such an issue.”
The partner of the girl’s mother argued that leniency is unacceptable, stating: “True rehabilitation, the true message to a child is if you commit an adult crime, you do the adult time. Because when people are young, that is the time to set an example.”
The family criticised the current system for failing to account for the daily trauma suffered by victims and their relatives.
Supported by barrister and women’s rights campaigner Charlotte Proudman through the appeal process, the girl’s mother said they are determined to fight so other victims do not have to sit in silence.
She added that they want to turn their trauma into something positive to help others facing the same ordeal.
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