TWO men groomed teenage girls with alcohol and cigarettes before sexually abusing them.

Osmon Koroma and Max N'Gasa were yesterday convicted of a total 18 sexual offences between them, following a six-week trial at Lewes Crown Court.

The friends bought the underage girls alcohol and cigarettes and invited them up to Koroma’s flat at the time in Wick Parade, Littlehampton.

Police said they groomed the girls to such an extent many of them considered themselves in a relationship.

Koroma, a labourer, 31, of Norton Road, Hove, was convicted of eight offences against five girls.

N’Gasa, a gardener, 25, of Cranmer Avenue, Hove, was convicted of 10 offences against seven girls.

The offences were committed between 2010 and 2014 when the victims were aged between 13 and 15.

Opening the case at Lewes Crown Court, Jennifer Knight told jurors a headteacher first raised concerns about men “hanging around Wick Parade providing drugs and alcohol to teenage girls” in 2012.

Ms Knight said some of the complainants were spoken to in 2012 but the scale did not become known until 2014.

She added: “N’Gasa would often be outside Koroma’s flat and they would frequently offer to buy cigarettes or alcohol. In that way both these defendants got to know young girls and ingratiated themselves with them, grooming them.”

Detective Chief Inspector Miles Ockwell said: “Young girls were sexually abused by one or other of these defendants and sometimes by both.

“Both men befriended young schoolgirls who would frequent the shopping parade, groomed them and ultimately exploited them by requesting sexual acts in return for purchasing cigarettes and alcohol on their behalf.

“Such was the level of grooming that took place, many of the girls considered that they were in relationships with the pair, despite the obvious significant age gap between them.

“I want to pay tribute to all of the girls who had the courage to stand up in court and tell their stories.

“In doing so, they have undoubtedly saved other children who may have been targeted by this pair.”

Both men had denied all the offences, with Koroma’s lawyer claiming the girls had been “carried away by the rumour factory”.

The two men will be sentenced on June 7.