A 15-year-old girl from Bradford was raped by a man more than twice her age who persuaded her to go for a drive in his car.

The rapist bought the teenager a takeaway meal before driving her to a secluded country lay-by where he carried out the sex attack.

He then drove her back to Bradford before leaving her on a busy road.

Detectives are urging the public to help catch the sex beast before he can take advantage of another young girl.

The girl told police she had gone on a pre-arranged car ride with the man, who picked her up from James Street, Bradford, in his silver Honda Civic, at about 8pm on Sunday, March 12. She was driven to the McDonald's restaurant in Shipley, where they went inside just before 9pm and bought a takeaway meal.

The man then drove her towards Otley and on to the B6451 Otley to Blubberhouses road, west of Harrogate, where he pulled in to a secluded lay-by and carried out a serious sexual assault.

After the attack, he drove back to Bradford and dropped the girl off near the Esso garage in Thornton Road at about 11pm. She raised the alarm and police were alerted.

Detective Constable Rebecca Smith, of Harrogate CID said: "This was a very serious incident and we need to identify him. He has taken advantage of a young girl and he needs to be caught as soon as possible to prevent it happening again."

Det Con Smith said the girl had met the man, who is aged between 30 and 40, by chance in Bradford about two weeks earlier. There was then phone contact between them before the girl agreed to the second meeting.

She said a number of people had been in McDonald's when the man and the girl were there and police were particularly keen to hear from any customers who noticed an Asian man and a white girl together.

The attacker was of Asian appearance, in his 30s, slim, with dark eyes and short dark hair. He was wearing denim jeans and a dark blue zip-up top with white stripes down the arms.

Anyone with information which could help the investigation is asked to contact Det Con Smith via 0845 6060247.