Rafiullah Hamidy and three other men have been found guilty of raping a 16-year-old girl

Three men who gang-raped a lost teenage girl in a grubby flat above a kebab shop have been jailed for 14 years.

The 16-year-old girl had been out drinking with a group of friends in Ramsgate, Kent when she stopped to ask a group of men for directions in the early hours of Sunday, September 18 last year.

They lured her to a flat above restaurant 555 Pizza and Kebab where she was subjected to a horrific ordeal.

After turning off the lights so she couldn't see, a court heard how she was thrown onto a mattress on the floor before she was raped multiple times as the men laughed.

It took the jury two days to find all four defendants guilty of all charges.

Today Shershah Muslimyar, 21, of Canterbury; Tamin Rahmani, 38, of Ramsgate; Rafiullah Hamidy, 24, of Herne Bay have been sentenced to 14 years each in prison.

And a 17-year-old boy who cannot be named for legal reasons has been jailed for seven years.

Initially 24-year-old Hambidy tried to escape to Italy after the attack but was arrested and sent back to the UK after police managed to track him down.

All four denied rape but were found guilty following a trial at Canterbury Crown Court and were sentenced today.

The three men were each sentenced to 14 years imprisonment and the 17-year-old boy was jailed for seven years.

The jury heard how the victim had been out with a group of friends in Ramsgate but left them in the early hours with the intention of walking to another girl’s home in Cliftonville.

She was later found crying in the street by two people returning from a night out.

Police said they managed to link the defendants to the crime through CCTV and forensic evidence.

The girl was taken to the home of Rahani, a flat above the 555 Pizza and Kebab shop, where the horrific attack took place

Rahmani was the first to be arrested on Sunday 18 September followed by Muslimyar three days later. The 17-year-old was arrested on Monday 5 December.

Hamidy could not be traced so a photograph of him was placed on the `Most Wanted’ page of the Kent Police website and circulated via social media.

It was later established he had fled to Taranto in the Apulia region of southern Italy, where he was detained by officers from the local police force under a European Arrest Warrant.

Hamidy was returned to the UK following an extradition hearing and taken into custody after arriving at Heathrow Airport on Tuesday 28 March.

Senior investigating officer Detective Inspector Richard Vickery said: ‘The victim in this case was a vulnerable teenage girl who was taken advantage of and subjected to some of the most horrendous crimes imaginable.

‘It was late at night, she was lost and she asked a group of men for directions. Instead they saw an opportunity to fulfil their depraved sexual desires and betrayed the trust she placed in them in the worst possible way.

‘Rape is an abhorrent crime and the victim has suffered a great deal of emotional harm from the ordeal she was forced to endure.

'She has displayed tremendous courage in reliving what happened to her, and I would like to personally thank her for having the strength to help bring her offenders to justice.

‘They clearly pose a significant danger to women and children and are fully deserving of the lengthy prison sentences they have received.’