Hove man jailed for raping two girls

Michael Manion, 22, unemployed, of Nutley Place, Hove, was sentenced at Hove Crown Court on Monday (April 24) after being convicted the previous month, following a re-trial, of three counts of raping a girl more than five years ago.

He had already been convicted, in September last year, of the rape of a teenager more than five years ago.

At that trial the jury had failed to agree on the three counts of attacking the second victim and the re-trial was then ordered.

On April 24 Manion received 54 months for each count of the offences against the first girl, to run concurrently with a separate sentence of 30 months for the offence against the teenager.

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,”