TWO men picked up two teenage girls off the street, took them to a house and raped one of them, a court heard.

A jury was told that Imran Khan, aged 36, and Zhaid Mohmmed, aged 45, from Halliwell, refused to let the girls, who were 14 and 15, leave the house in Chester Street, Blackburn, and "took advantage of them sexually".

Robert Golinski, prosecuting, told Preston Crown Court that the girls said they had told the men how old they were while in a silver Honda, which was being driven by Mohmmed, of Tenby Close, Blackburn.

He said: "This is a case involving the sexual exploitation of young and vulnerable girls by much older men."

The jury was told the defendants stopped and asked the alleged victims if they wanted a lift as they walked in Blackburn late at night.

Mr Golinski said the girls had told police that the men spoke to each other "in their own language" so they could not understand what was being said.

But the men did tell the complainants to keep their heads down in the car in case they were seen by the police, the jury heard.

Mr Golinski said: "They knew it would be seen as being totally inappropriate for those young girls to be in a vehicle with two men at that time of night."

The girls where not taken where they asked to go, but were instead driven to the property in Chester Street.

The prosecutor said: "The girls were making it clear to the men that they wanted to leave but they were refused.

"They were offered drink and drugs.

"The girls were then separated by the two men, each of the taking one of the girls.

"The prosecution say this was a deliberate policy by the defendants to get each of the girls alone."

The 14-year-old girl was then assaulted by Mohmmed, of Boardman Street, Halliwell, the court was told.

It was alleged the other, who was 15, was then raped in an upstairs bedroom by Khan.

The court was told that his DNA was later found in the girl's underwear, which she had thrown away because she "felt dirty".

Khan denies one count of rape and two of detaining a child without lawful authority.

He told police the girls had said they were 17 and 18 and that any sexual activity had been consensual, the court heard.

Mohmmed denies two counts of detaining a child without lawful authority and two of sexual activity with a female under 16.

When he was interviewed, he said the girls had told them they were 16 and 17.

Mr O'Brien told the court: "The prosecution say that the notion that these two young girls had quite freely gone to an adult male strangers house where one of the had had consensual sexual intercourse with a man and that they have then gone on to make false allegations is nonsense."

The trial continues.