Mr Scamardella said the men “preyed upon” the girls “for their own perverted sexual gratification, in the most humiliating and degrading way imaginable”.

They were “easy prey for older men to exploit” because they “craved the attention that their home lives and families did not provide”, he said.

“The girls were expected to have sex with these men and others, whenever and wherever the men wanted.”

The court was told they were made to have sex in “filthy flats and on rancid mattresses”, and other times in “cars, car parks, alleyways or disused warehouses”.

Mr Scamardella said “unprotected sex was routine”, and the girls were “lied to about it being forbidden for Muslim men to use protection”.

Girl A “lived with her mother but had no real home life to speak of”, Mr Scamardella said, while he said Girl B “had been in care since she was just seven years old”.

Rochdale and the surrounding parts of Greater Manchester “have been blighted by this type of child sexual exploitation”, he added.