A GANG of perverted "animals" are facing long prison stretches for the horrific gang rape of a 15-year-old girl they had drugged and imprisoned.

The three men repeatedly attacked the schoolgirl in a squalid flat after first spiking her drink.

As gang members Amber Liaquat, 21, Yasin Ramzan, 19, and Robbani Miah, 18, all of Newcastle's West End, were told they face hefty sentences for the rape, the full horror of their actions was revealed.

Detective Inspector Max Black said: "This was a gang rape on a defenceless girl.

"The men who took part in this can only be described as animals. And although another youth, aged 17, was only convicted of abducting the youngster and carrying her from one flat to another, in the eyes of the victim and the police, he played just as much a part in her ordeal."

After their convictions, Judge Guy Whitburn lifted an order banning the identification of the youth.

Ruman Abu, 17, of Derwentwater Road, Gates-head, had denied abduction but was found guilty.

All the adults are in custody awaiting sentence, while Abu was sent to a hostel.

A fifth man, Mohammed Shinwari, a 32-year-old asylum seeker, was cleared of rape when his trial ended on Friday.

The girl was attacked after being given a glass of spiked vodka after calling with others at the flat in Arthurs Hill, Newcastle, where Ramzan, lived. Abu then carried her to a neighbouring flat where she suffered further rapes and degradation.

The dazed girl eventually came round from her drug-induced coma at about 7am the following day and staggered from the flat.

The gang will be sentenced at Newcastle Crown Court tomorrow.