AN MP has called for police and other public services to make sure they fully investigate their work with girls who were groomed and sexually abused by two men.

Peter Kyle said such crimes should bring a city to "a standstill with the horror of it".

Yesterday (Friday) The Argus reported how a 2012 police investigation into sex abuse by two Hove men was deemed "inadequate" by the chief constable.

A detective sergeant is facing a gross misconduct case over the initial investigation, which police reviewed in 2014, leading to convictions this week.

On Wednesday Osmon Koroma, 31, of Norton Road, Hove, was convicted of eight offences against five girls: one rape, two sexual assaults and five counts of sexual activity with a child.

Max N'Gasa, 25, of Cranmer Avenue, Hove, was convicted of 10 offences against seven girls: two offences of rape and eight counts of sexual activity with a child.

Mr Kyle, MP for Hove, said he had faith in a serious case review now underway into the case, adding: "If anything like this gets to the point when a child has been raped this is something that should bring a city to a standstill with the horror of it.

"So I think the police are taking this extremely seriously but that being said we need to get to the bottom of why our public services failed these young people, because if a pattern of behaviour and any predatory behaviour leads to the rape of a child over a two-to-four year period then many, many things have gone wrong and we need to understand them."

He added: "I find it inconceivable that no public services of any kind noticed a change in the behaviour of the young girls, so my concern does not rest solely with the police.

"I am pleased that the police have identified a problem and they are investigating it seriously, but what we need to know is whether any public service noticed a change in their behaviour: for example did they visit an sexually transmitted diseases clinic, did their behaviour at school change?

"One of the lessons of Rotherham was that the various public services noticed a change in behaviour but did not follow it up."

A six-week trial at Lewes Crown Court heard how the two men groomed the girls by buying them alcohol and cigarettes and inviting them up to Koroma's then flat in Wick Parade, Littlehampton.