A judge has warned a city centre rapist that he will get a substantial jail term after he was unanimously convicted by a jury.

Jurors took two hours yesterday to convict Usman Akram of three counts of raping the 19-year-old whom he had overpowered in the street after she had left a nightclub.

The terrified young woman was barefoot and in her party dress when Akram, 21, struck in Sunbridge Road at 6.15am on Sunday, April 26, this year.

During the trial, the jury heard the teenager was drunk, tearful and bewildered after getting out of a taxi after a row with her sister as they made their way home.

Akram, of Woodale Avenue, Heaton, Bradford, targeted her while he prowled the red light district on the look-out for a prostitute.

He chased after the teenager, grabbed her and pulled her down stone steps leading to Paradise Street.

When she tried to scream for help, he covered her mouth with his leather-gloved hand, the court heard.

After the first rape, the teenager tried to escape. Akram grabbed her ankles and dragged her back down the stone steps. She suffered multiple cuts, bruises and scrapes to her arms, legs and body in the prolonged attack.

After the jury’s verdicts, Judge Peter Benson thanked them for their close attention to “a harrowing case”.

He adjourned sentencing until October 23 for the preparation of a probation service report.

Judge Benson told Akram to expect a long time behind bars.

But he said he needed to know if Akram could always understand the consequences of his actions and requested the probation report.

After the verdicts, the teenager’s relatives, who cannot be named for legal reasons, said they were pleased and relieved Akram had been convicted.