Two brothers are behind bars today after a 15-year-old schoolgirl was raped and then threatened with violence unless she dropped the charges.

Amer Javed, 24, was jailed for nine years after viciously forcing himself upon the vulnerable youngster when she refused to have sex with him.

His brother, Saqib Javed, 27, then made her ordeal worse by intimidating her and her 14-year-old female friend.

Saqib Javed was yesterday sentenced to four years in prison after a jury at Bradford Crown Court found him guilty of two charges of intimidating witnesses.

His brother was imprisoned in May after he was convicted of the sex attack, but his sentence could not be revealed for legal reasons until the end of Saqib Javed's trial.

The rape victim, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, bravely gave evidence in both trials after insisting on pursuing the cases.

She told the court how she received phone calls from Saqib Javed and also bumped into him in the Frizinghall area of Bradford.

She said he offered to give her £500 if she dropped the charges, but if she did not her legs would be broken, but she refused.

She described how during a chance meeting in the street Saqib Javed again asked her to drop the charges and because she was scared she said she would.

On another occasion she was with a friend when he pulled up in a car.

"He said 'You'd better drop the charges or your legs will get broken and her teeth will get smashed,'" she told the court.

He then confronted her in a nearby shop and suggested that her friend's little brother would "go missing".

Saqib Javed, of Aireville Close, Frizinghall, Bradford, made no comment during police questioning and pleaded not guilty to both charges.

Judge Linda Sutcliffe told him that he had committed serious offences involving two young girls.

Amer Javed attacked the 15-year-old at Frizinghall nine days before Christmas last year.

She had gone with a friend who was meeting a friend of Amer Javed and went for a walk with him.

But he then asked her for sex. When she refused he grabbed her arm and dragged her into a nearby garden. He became aggressive and demanded she took off her clothes.

When she again refused he grabbed her by the hair and pinned her to the ground, removed her clothes and raped her while placing his hand over her mouth and threatening to kick her if she moved or shouted.

Javed told the court the sex had been consensual.

After the hearings investigating officer PC Alexandra Snow, of Keighley CID, said the school pupil was a shy, innocent and vulnerable girl and had been very traumatised by her ordeal.

PC Snow said: "The rape was an unprovoked and nasty attack and the witness intimidation absolutely terrified both the girls and made

the rape ordeal ten times worse.

"They have had a nightmare six months and both have been very brave and did very well giving evidence.

"It has had a bad effect on the 15 year-old and her schooling has suffered. She just wants to put it all behind her now."

PC Snow added: "Justice has been done and it shows that the police take witness intimidation seriously and will go to court."