Teenagers’ non-custodial sentences for rape under review, UK government says

Jess Phillips told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: ‘For those young women, going through a rape trial like this will not have been a simple thing to do.’ Photograph: Joe Giddens/PA

The government is urgently reviewing the “unduly lenient” sentences given to three teenage boys who avoided custody for the rape of two girls.

The MP Jess Phillips, who was the minister for safeguarding and violence against women and girls before resigning this month, said that giving the boys youth rehabilitation orders sent a “bad message”.