TEENAGERS who say they were sexually assaulted have been “carried away by the rumour factory”, jurors were told.

Such cases bring a “degree of hysteria”, a lawyer for one of the defendants told his trial.

Prosecutors say that Osmon Koroma, 30, of Norton Road, Hove, and Maxi N’Gasa, 24, of Cranmer Avenue, Hove, sexually abused a total of 12 girls between 2011 and 2014. Both men deny the offences.

Defending Koroma, Gregory Bull QC told Lewes Crown Court: “These girls have been carried away by the rumour factory at their school.”

He said “I think St Trinian’s might have had a classroom at the school”, likening the behaviour of the complainants to those in the films.

Prosecutors say Koroma and N’Gasa groomed the girls with alcohol and cigarettes and invited them to Koroma’s flat in Wick Parade, Littlehampton, where he lived with his wife and young son.

Police started investigating after a teacher at their school raised concerns to social services and police, first in 2012 and again in 2014.

Koroma gave evidence last week, referring to the claims as “useless allegations” and said that some people were jealous of his “prosperity”.

Koroma said: “I have had some problems in the past that might be racism because there are not many black people in the community.” Jurors have heard that he had HIV but none of the girls he is alleged to have had sex with contracted the virus.

On the judge’s direction halfway through the trial, N’Gasa was found not guilty of one count of sexual activity with a child and not guilty of one count of sexual assault. He faces a further 15 counts.

The men deny the charges. The trial continues.