A RAPIST who forced himself on a 15-year-old girl at knifepoint after meeting her in a Bolton park is on the run from a 12-year-jail sentence.

Police have vowed to keep hunting Hardi Hijrani, who is believed to have fled back to the Middle East before his trial was due to start in September 2013.

Efforts to trace him failed and the trial at Bolton Crown Court went ahead without him this week, with a jury convicting him of two counts of rape.

Paul Dockery, prosecuting, told the jury how, in May 2012, the victim was with a friend in Queens Park, Bolton, when they got talking to 21-year-old Hijrani.

The next day he rang the 15-year-old girl and asked her to go to the park again.

After they met up he took her back to his Gilnow Road flat where he pushed her down on a bed a raped her.

When she tried to scream he put his hand over her mouth.

The jury was told how he then offered her a cannabis joint and she left, too afraid to tell anyone what had happened in case she got into trouble.

The following day she went to Queens Park again, but when she agreed to accompany a friend to a betting shop in Deane Road she was horrified to see Hijrani again.

Later that day he repeatedly rang her and demanded she meet him until she gave in and went to his flat.

But as she came out of the toilet in the flat Hijrani dragged her to the bed and raped her again, picking up a knife and threatening, "You're gonna do what I tell you."

Two days later Hijrani attempted to commit a sexual act with her again, but she managed to escape.

Mr Dockery said the crimes only came to light three months later when the victim spotted Hijrani in the street again while she was with friends.

She became upset and revealed what had happened to them and a passing police car was flagged down.

Sentencing Hijrani to 12 years in prison, the Honorary Recorder of Bolton, Judge Timothy Clayson said the victim, who is now 18, had been particularly vulnerable.

"He overcame any resistance she might have expressed through threatening her with a knife," said Judge Clayson.

He added that Hijrani's whereabouts are not known.

"It's certainly possible that he may have gone back to the Middle East," he added.

Det Insp Damian Simpson, of Greater Manchester Police's serious sexual offences unit, welcomed the sentence.

"This has taken two years to get such a decision and it is a fantastic result. The victim will be able to get her life back on track now," he said.

He added that Interpol will be contacted and Hijrani's details widely publicised in the hope of catching him and ensuring he is put behind bars.

"We won't stop looking for him," he said.