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Teens spared jail over rape appeal: ‘No sentence other than detention was appropriate’

► A decision on the sentences of three teenage boys for the rape of two girls slammed as “unduly lenient” is expected to be delivered by appeal court justices on Thursday afternoon. Lady Chief Justice Baroness Carr said the boys are expected to attend Southampton Crown Court, and appear at the Court of Appeal in London via videolink, as the justices want to “address the boys directly”. Opening the Attorney General’s case, Tom Little KC told the Court of Appeal that “no sentence other than detention was appropriate” for the boys who were spared custody over the rape of two girls. Mr Little said that Judge Nicholas Rowland, who sentenced the boys at Southampton Crown Court in May, oversaw a “difficult sentencing exercise” given the ages of the offenders and the victims, but that the case involved “the application of well-established principles”. He said: “We accept… that the judge did try to apply the relevant principles, but our submission is he misapplied them along the way, the cumulative effect of which was to lead to unduly lenient sentences.” In written submissions, Mr Little said some of the sentencing judge’s decisions “are troubling and appear to minimise aspects of the case”. The barrister said that the judge correctly said that previous consensual sexual activity was not mitigation but appeared to wrongly find that the offenders had reduced culpability. ► Have you subscribed to 5 News?: http://bit.ly/5NewsSub ► Follow 5 News on Twitter to keep up to date with the latest news - https://twitter.com/5_News Message us on Facebook to share your opinion - https://www.facebook.com/c5News See our latest pictures and videos on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/c5news/ ► About 5 News: We bring you the stories that matter to you, from around the world and across the UK. 🎥 We post daily playlists with the biggest news of the day, interviews, special reports and investigations. 📺 Catch us on TV on Channel 5 every weekday 5-6pm 📱 Get in touch with us on WhatsApp at +44 7555 500 501 🎧 Listen to "How Did We Get Here? Explaining The News" wherever you get your podcasts: https://podfollow.com/how-did-we-get-here-explaining-the-news Our flagship, hour-long programme at 5pm is watched on Channel 5 by up to a million viewers, with regular news updates throughout the day. ITN changed the TV news landscape when it launched 5 News in 1997, producing Five News for nine years before winning the contract to supply news to Channel 5 again from 2012.