Three Afghan nationals who fled the UK in the back of a lorry days after raping a teenage girl are facing jail.

Mehrab Safi, 21, and Awal Ahmadzai and Salman Habibkheil, both 19, were discovered by the French authorities in Calais after escaping the UK.

Bristol Crown Court heard the three Afghans left the UK on December 3 last year, three days after they and a 17-year-old boy raped the 17-year-old girl.

The defendants had denied all the charges, but the jury found them all guilty after two days of deliberations. They were convicted of:

– Safi: one count of human trafficking and two charges of rape.

– Habibkheil: one count of human trafficking and one charge of rape.

– Ahmadzai: one charge of rape and one of assault by penetration.

– The 17-year-old boy: one charge of rape.

Police had traced the girl to a house in the St Werburghs area of Bristol and arrested the 17-year-old defendant when he answered the door to the property.

Edd Hetherington, prosecuting, said the three older co-accused fled the house as the police arrived and travelled to both Birmingham and London.

“You might have heard reports from time to time about people concealing themselves in the back of a lorry and crossing the Channel,” he said.

“In a deeply unusual turn of events, the defendants Safi, Habibkheil and Ahmadzai, chose to use this mode of transportation to leave the UK rather than enter.

“Unfortunately for them, they were discovered by the French police in Calais.”

They were then returned to the UK and immediately arrested by the police on suspicion of rape.

Mobile phone footage recovered from Safi’s phone showed the three defendants in the back of the lorry with Habibkheil making hand gestures to the camera and laughing, and Ahmadzai having a lie down.

The attack happened days after the girl had met Safi while Christmas shopping with a friend in Bristol city centre.

Safi groomed the girl on Snapchat – including asking for nude photos from her – before arranging for a taxi to bring her to Bristol in the early hours of November 30.

“It is a very sad indictment of what digital technology has done to dating life with young people that she regarded that request as entirely normal,” Mr Hetherington said.

“She was perfectly willing to so, despite him being someone she barely knew and she said that was unexceptional.”

At the property, the girl was provided with cigarettes and vodka before being raped by Safi and Habibkheil.

After falling asleep she was raped and sexually assaulted by Ahmadzai, and then raped by the 17-year-old boy. Later that morning the girl was raped again by Safi.

She told police following the four attacks, she said she wanted to leave the house.

“I just wanted to go home, I didn’t feel safe, I just wanted to go home,” she told officers.

“I didn’t like it. I just wanted to be at home.”

She later told them: “Well, I didn’t say no, so I didn’t think it was like bad. But to be fair, I didn’t think they were all going to f*** me.

“I thought it was just going to be one which was the one that I was speaking to. I didn’t think they were going to do anything but they did anyway.”

The four defendants denied all the charges.

Safi maintained the first incident with the girl was consensual and the second rape did not happen.

Habibkheil said it was the girl who had invited him upstairs to the bedroom to have sex, while Ahmadzai maintained he was not the third person who raped her.

The youth also said the sexual intercourse was consensual and the girl had initiated it.

Safi, of St Werburghs, Bristol; Habibkheil, of Lockleaze, Bristol; Ahmadzai, of Redcliffe, Bristol, were remanded into custody.

The 17-year-old boy was released on conditional bail, including an overnight curfew, at an address outside of the region.

Judge Michael Cullum told them: “To each of the defendants who are adults you will receive immediate custodial sentences.

“However, there are a lot of things I have to consider when deciding the length of that sentence.”

Addressing the youth, the judge said: “Although you are 17 years old, you must expect to receive an immediate custodial sentence.

“Your lawyers will ask me not to send you to custody and I will consider those arguments.

“You must understand that while you maintain your bail it is not an indication of you not receiving a custodial sentence.”

They will all be sentenced on October 6.

Detective Chief Inspector Matt Cable of Avon and Somerset Police, speaking after the case, said: “These four people exploited a vulnerable young girl purely for the purposes of their own sexual gratification.

“They are dangerous individuals who pose a significant threat to young women and girls and gave not a single thought to the welfare of the victim.”

Sally Helliwell, of the Crown Prosecution Service, said: “The young victim in this case was targeted, groomed, and then lured to an unfamiliar city, miles from home in the dead of night.

“Isolated and alone, she was plied with alcohol and then raped and abused over several hours by four different people. It was clear throughout that she did not consent.

“Thankfully, the three men who fled in such a cowardly manner were swiftly returned to the UK to face justice.”