A MAN has been jailed for seven years for raping two girls.

Michael Manion, 22, unemployed, of Nutley Place, Hove, was sentenced at Hove Crown Court on Monday.

He had been convicted the previous month, following a re-trial, of three counts of raping a nine-year old girl between July 2009 and August 2010.

He had already been convicted, in September last year, of the rape of a 16-year old girl in November 2010, while she was asleep.

Manion received 54 months for each count of the offences against the nine-year old, to run concurrently with a separate sentence of 30 months for the offence against the adult.

He was also made the subject of a Sexual Harm Prevention Order to last indefinitely, severely restricting his access to girls and young women, and will be a registered sex offender for life.

Detective Constable Stewart Cameron from the Brighton Safeguarding Investigations Unit said: "Both victims showed courage in standing up in court and giving their evidence of what Manion did to them.

"The offences weren't reported at once, with both victims coming forward independently at different times in 2013 and 2015. Despite this two separate juries have found him guilty of raping vulnerable females.

"Regardless of how long ago an assault was, anyone who reports incidents of this type to us will be supported and we will investigate."