Three men who repeatedly sexually abused a young girl could be facing 15-year jail sentences after they were convicted of rape charges.

Kevin Wright, Alan Morrison and David Potts were found guilty by a jury at Bradford Crown Court after a two-week trial.

At the end of the case, the jury of seven women and five men was told by Judge Scott Wolstenholme that Morrison, who was absent throughout, was in prison.

The judge told them: “I can satisfy your curiosity. Mr Morrison is serving a lengthy sentence of imprisonment for a completely unconnected offence.

“He is in custody. He declined to attend his trial. There was no point in bringing him here in those circumstances.”

Morrison, 48, formerly of Cold Street, Haworth, was jailed for 18 years in 2007 after he was found guilty of attempted murder.

At that trial he was described as a self-styled vigilante who cold-bloodedly shot a suspected child abuser in the stomach.

Morrison drove the man to a secluded road near the railway arches in Brighouse before trying to kill him with a single-barrelled shotgun. The latest trial had heard how Wright, Morrison, and Graham Blowers, who has since died, gang-raped the young girl while an older girl was forced to watch.

The older teenage girl told the jury she was made to sit in a corner while the younger child was held down and raped.

She said she was hit if she tried to look away and the men had laughed at the violence.

Wright, 38, of Portwood Street, Heaton, Bradford, denied two charges of raping the younger girl.

He and Morrison denied raping the same girl on two occasions.

The two also pleaded not guilty to two charges of committing an act of gross indecency by making the teenager watch the rapes.

Potts, 60, of Driffield, East Yorkshire, denied two offences of raping the younger girl.

Morrison remained absent as all three were unanimously convicted yesterday.

Judge Wolstenholme adjourned sentencing until next month for probation reports. Morrison, who had a previous conviction for indecently assaulting a girl, will be sentenced via video link from prison.

Remanding Wright and Potts in custody, the judge said: “It seems to me, having regard to sentencing guidelines which have a starting point of 15 years imprisonment the prospect of sentence is so dreadful for the defendants they would have a powerful incentive not to come back to court.”

He said a lengthy period of imprisonment was inevitable.

Prosecutor Caroline Wigin had told the jury that Morrison employed Wright as a security guard.

She said Wright, who was found to have child porn on a computer at work, was the first to rape the younger girl and she was raped by Wright, Morrison and Blowers together when she was a year older.

Miss Wigin said Potts raped the younger girl on separate occasions.

She said all the men told the police the girls were never abused.

Potts and Wright told the court that the abuse never happened and insisted they had done nothing wrong.

Julie Ogg, of Bradford, was convicted of two charges of child cruelty. She was found not guilty of a third charge on the direction of a judge. She was granted bail until sentencing.