Lawyers have launched a bid to increase prison sentences imposed on a lesbian couple after a brutal knife attack on a 14-year-old boy.

Lorraine Large and Gemma McGarvie, from Littlehampton, were found guilty of attempted murder at Lewes Crown Court in December.

Large was given nine years and McGarvie seven years for an attack which left the boy fighting for his life. His throat had been cut and he had more than 20 stab wounds.

Judge Richard Brown's sentences disappointed relatives of the victim and the team of detectives led by Detective Superintendent Steve Scott, who brought Large, 22, and McGarvie, 18, to justice.

Now the Attorney General has supported a Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) application for the sentences to be referred to the Court of Appeal.

The grounds of the appeal describe the sentences as "unduly lenient".

Sally Cole, a CPS senior reviewing lawyer based at Chichester, said the next stage of the process would involve a single judge studying the case to decide if it should go in front of the full Court of Appeal.

A hearing would not be expected to take place for up to three months.

McGarvie and Large attacked the boy several times after dragging him from a flat in South Terrace, Littlehampton, where they were holding a party to celebrate moving in together.

Ms Cole said: "The women took part in a prolonged, vicious and sustained attack on this boy. He was punched, kicked, attacked with a large kitchen knife and also a craft-type knife.

"He was finally hit over the head with a bottle and left for dead.

"We thought it right the sentences should be referred to the Court of Appeal as being unduly lenient."