Three teenage boys spared jail after raping lone girls will have their sentences reviewed. Fury erupted after the fiends were put on a rehabilitation programme, rather than being locked up. And Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer on Tuesday confirmed the sentences will be referred to the Court of Appeal.

Sir Keir said: “There are questions about the sentence. He said: “The Attorney General has power to refer a case to a court of appeal if the Attorney General thinks that the sentence is too lenient. The Attorney General has now exercised that power. So I can announce that case now will go to a Court of Appeal… and that is clearly the right outcome.”

Sir Keir said the rape case in Fordingbridge, Hampshire, is “really distressing” and that the courage of the girls who came forward about it is “humbling”.

The Prime Minister said: “I think it’s a really distressing case. I think it’s distressing for everybody to see, to hear about.

“The courage, frankly, of the girls to come forward is humbling, but it is distressing.

“I find it distressing as a politician. I find it distressing as a father.”

This is a breaking story. More to follow.