Men jailed for raping teenage girl after grooming her on Snapchat

Awal Ahmadzai, Salman Habibkheil and Mehrab Safi fled the UK after committing a string of sexual offences against a 17-year-old girl

Three Afghan nationals who raped a teenager, before being stopped by French police as they fled the UK in the back of a lorry, have been jailed.

Safi first met the 17-year-old girl, who cannot be named for legal reasons, while she was Christmas shopping, and groomed her over Snapchat before paying for a taxi to bring her to Bristol.

Sentencing the three men, Judge Michael Cullum said being trafficked and raped by the men will have caused "unimaginable" trauma to the teenager.

A 17-year-old boy - who is an Afghan national but cannot be named for legal reasons - was also convicted of rape, but he did not try to escape the UK. He was sentenced to two years and seven months in a youth detention centre.

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Safi transported the girl by taxi from Somerset to a house in Bristol where she was raped by the men and boy

"If I ever leave the house, it is only with my best friend or mum. I would not be able to go out by myself, even the thought of that makes me panic.

"Sometimes I would dream about what happened, which I was not expecting – and I do not like those dreams at all," she said.

Det Sgt Jo Babbage praised the bravery of the victim for reporting the attacks

Avon and Somerset Police said the girl, who was from Somerset, was plied with alcohol when she arrived at Safi's home. She was then sexually assaulted and raped over a number of hours by the three men and teenager in November last year.

Det Sgt Jo Babbage said the victim had begun communicating with Safi five days before the attacks "via mobile, predominantly Snapchat".