A judge today ordered two men to tell the truth about why they had blasted a couple with a shotgun outside a Bradford nightclub before he sentenced them to a total of 21 years in jail.

Khawar Butt, 22, was given 12 years and Dean Carden, 22, jailed for nine years at Leeds Crown Court after they were convicted of shooting Dane Barrett and his then girlfriend Gemma Tuohey outside Planet Venus nightclub in City Road, last November.

But today, Judge George Newman ordered both defendants' barristers to extract from them the real motive behind the shootings in which Miss Tuohey was hit by more than 150 shotgun pellets.

He said: "These young men are doing themselves no favours at all. I'm not prepared to sit here and listen to what I regard as a wholly improbable explanation."

Butt, of Sandford Road, Bradford Moor, was found guilty by a jury on Tuesday of maliciously wounding with intent and possessing a firearm with intent to endanger life.

Carden, 22, of Blackmoor Road, Moortown Leeds, had denied all charges at the start of the two-week trial, but part way through changed his plea to guilty on counts of wounding with intent and possession of a firearm.

Alternative charges of attempted murder were dismissed against both defendants.

Two other defendants, Georgina Kitson, 48, of Sticker Lane, Bradford, and Kelly Slater, 26, of Tyersal, Bradford, who pleaded guilty to perverting the course of justice in connection with police investigation into the shootings, were also being sentenced today.