Two Birmingham brothers aged 15 and 13 have gone on trial before a jury accused of raping their younger sister.

The teenagers, who cannot be named for legal reasons, both deny raping the girl, who is now aged seven and is alleged to have been abused on around 15 occasions.

Mark Heywood, prosecuting, told Birmingham Crown Court that the older boy was also alleged to have sexually attacked another of their sisters, now aged 10.

Opening the case against the brothers, Mr Heywood told jurors: "Because the charges were read to you, I imagine it probably became very clear to you what this case is all about.

"The prosecution case, in a nutshell, is that each of these two boys sexually abused their sister... and, in the case of the eldest, abused his other sister as well."

The younger sister estimates that she was abused around 15 times, Mr Heywood told the jury.

The 15-year-old defendant denies two charges of rape and four of sexual assault of a child, while his brother denies two counts of rape and two of sexual assault.

It is alleged the offences were committed between September 2006 and May 2009.

Neither boy was required to sit in the dock during the opening of the case and the barristers and judge involved in the proceedings were not wearing wigs or gowns.