A SEX offender pleaded guilty to a charge of sexual activity with a 14-year-old after grooming the teenager.

Unemployed 33-year-old Morakile Kosi was sentenced to more than five and a half years in prison for sexual offences against the girl in Crawley.

Kosi, of Barn Field Terrace in Bexhill, came to know the girl through mutual acquaintances and “deliberately arranged a situation in which she was at his mercy, purely for his own gratification”, Detective Constable Helen Rainbow of the West Sussex Safeguarding Investigations Unit said.

Kosi appeared at Lewes Crown Court last Monday where he made his guilty plea.

He also pleaded not guilty to raping the girl, a charge which was subsequently

ordered to lie on the court file.

The judge sentenced Kosi to 67 months in jail and issued him with a Sexual Harm Prevention Order which severely restricts his access to girls under the age of 16 until further court order.

He will be a registered sex offender for life.

DC Rainbow said: “The victim showed real strength and maturity in bringing this to the attention of the police.

“I hope that this encourages others who have found themselves in a similar situation to come forward.

“Sussex Police will always take these matters seriously.

“Grooming young people is particularly heinous because it preys on their vulnerabilities – but grooming is not consent.”

Further information on support and advice available to victims of sexual offences can be found on the Sussex Police website.

Anyone with information about sexual offending can also contact the police at any time online or by calling 101, and arrange to speak to experienced investigators.