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Rapist had seven children by daughters

By Theo Usherwood,





A rapist fathered seven children by his two daughters during a campaign of abuse spanning more than 25 years, Sheffield Crown Court heard today.

The 56-year-old man "took pleasure" in knowing the harm he was doing to his two daughters and threatened them with a "real hiding" if they refused to have sex with him, the court heard.

The defendant, who called himself the "gaffer", made his elder daughter pregnant seven times, fathering two children by her. She bore two other babies but they died the day they were born.

He made his younger daughter pregnant 12 times. She has five surviving children, the court heard.

The defendant, from Sheffield, who cannot be named for legal reasons, admitted 25 rapes and four indecent assaults last month.

The court heard that the defendant also had a son, who lived with them until his teenage years.

Nicholas Campbell QC said: "All the defendant's children spoke of his domination over their family life.

"He was tall and strongly built.

"I quote him: He was 'the main gaffer', he called himself the gaffer and he liked to think that he was a hard man.

"All the family were frightened of him. When they heard his car pulling up outside the house, the children and their mother ran to their respective rooms.

"His son described him as having a Jekyll and Hyde personality and that his dad had a one-second fuse and that he could flip and turn just with the click of his fingers."

The court heard that the sexual abuse started when the two sisters reached the age of eight but that they only realised the other was being abused when they became pregnant some years later.

Their father has already been compared with the Austrian rapist Josef Fritzl, who kept his daughter locked in a dungeon for 24 years as he fathered seven children with her.

Mr Campbell said: "His younger daughter told of the frightening habit her father had of putting her head next to the flames of their gas fire and that when she struggled to get away on certain occasions she burnt her eyes.

"The sisters recall that they were kept from school when they bore physical injuries. The defendant also ensured that his family were kept isolated and that there were very few visitors to the home.

"Rather than having babysitters, the children recall being locked in their rooms when their mother and father went out.

"They moved from South Yorkshire to Lincolnshire and lived in small, isolated villages.

"Even then there was speculation and talk from the neighbours about the growing family but the lack of any other men apart from the man who called himself the grandfather."

The court heard that in 1988 suspicions were raised at the victims' school due to their injuries but these were blamed on bullying.

One of the ways the defendant prevented his children from alerting the police or social services was by telling them they would have their children taken from them.

During one incident in 1998, he kicked and punched his younger daughter for meeting up with the son of one of her neighbours.

He then attacked his eldest daughter, holding a knife to her throat, before claiming: "It's never going to end. You have to do what you are told."

The women then called Childline and asked for a guarantee that they could keep their children but when one was not offered they ended the call.

Mr Campbell said: "When either one of his victims tried to end the sexual abuse, he threatened to kill them and their children, and when they threatened to tell police, he said they would not be believed.

"He said that if they went public then the children would be taken away from them.

"All the time, when the sisters were challenged about the paternity of their children, they would cover it up.

"They started taking the pill. He said they should not be taking it and, just as they felt unable to avoid his sexual abuse, they obeyed.

"They spoke of his pleasure at fathering their children whilst at the same time they had fears for the welfare of these children and how they would cope."

At one stage towards the end of the abuse, the defendant offered his younger daughter £500 to have another child with him.

The man will be sentenced later.
Independent

Agencies face row over 'unspeakable abuse' by father who raped and impregnated sisters
• Two daughters had seven and 12 pregnancies
• Brother contacted police but no action taken


Child protection agencies in Lincolnshire and Sheffield are bracing themselves for damning criticism over the case of a man who raped and impregnated his daughters, as details of "unspeakable" abuse against the two women begin to emerge.

Repeated incidents brought the family to the notice of the police and education and health authorities as far back as the late 1970s, but though suspicions were occasionally voiced by observers, no decisive action was taken.

Lincolnshire police investigated allegations of abuse in 1997, it has emerged, after being contacted by the girls' brother, but no action was taken. Repeated hospital visits also failed to raise suspicions, and on one occasion, when the younger sister was asked outright if her father was the father of her child, her denials were accepted without further question.

The women, now in their 30s, were even given genetic counselling because so many of their pregnancies - seven for the older girl, 12 for her sister - were resulting in miscarriages or serious developmental abnormalities, but no intervention was made. Of the seven children who survived, a number have significant health problems.

The man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was not arrested until June, when one of his daughters reported the abuse to a social worker. He was given 25 life sentences at Sheffield crown court on Tuesday, after which an urgent review into the case was announced by Sheffield city council's director of children's services.

Gordon Brown yesterday promised to overhaul the child protection system if the review reveals serious failings. "The whole country will be outraged by these unspeakable events. People will rightly want to know how such abuse could go on for so long without the authorities and the wider public services discovering it and taking action," Brown told the Commons at prime minister's questions.

"If there is a change to be made in the system and the system has failed we will change the system."

Part of the case review's remit will be to investigate communication between local authorities, as the family moved repeatedly during the period of abuse between Lincolnshire and South Yorkshire. The Local Government Association yesterday called for the establishment of a central national database of at-risk families. "When social services identify a new family in their area they should be able to cross-check with that database to see whether there is a history. This has to happen," said Les Lawrence, chair of the LGA's board on children and young people.

Medical records show evidence of abuse from very early childhood. The older of the two sisters was found to have bruises on her back, buttocks and arms when she was just five.

Police were involved shortly afterwards when her younger sister was admitted to hospital with a broken arm. Claims from the wider family that she had been thrown across the room by her father were apparently disregarded. Police were contacted again when the older girl, aged 10, arrived several times at school in Sheffield with serious bruising and clearly hungry. Again, there were no consequences. In another incident, the older girl crayoned a picture of monsters in her bedroom, which caused suspicion among teachers, but she was transferred by her father to another school, a tactic he used repeatedly.

According to relatives, the girls' maternal grandmother contacted South Yorkshire police in 1988 but was warned by an officer that a complaint could be considered as slander. "The police could have stopped it," the man's sister-in-law told reporters. "They let those girls down. Our family has gone to the police a number of times over the years."

Speaking in court as the 56-year-old was sentenced, James Baird, defending, said it was "inconceivable" that the abuse could have gone on for so long without being detected. "It's equally incomprehensible that, despite ... real suspicions being raised, nothing was done by social services to investigate how two young women could have endured multiple pregnancies.

"The only apparent male in these young women's lives was their own father. The complainants and their children attended many, many hospital appointments and were in receipt of genetic counselling, and yet, even among the medical experts, no one sought to probe further as to how these cases arose."

The review is being conducted by Professor Pat Cantrill, a former senior civil servant at the Department of Health. Peter Duxbury, director of children's services at Lincolnshire county council, insisted the county's child protection system had "improved a great deal", adding that there had been "a wholesale reorganisation of children's services".

Sheffield city council said the report was unlikely until next year. All agencies which had any dealings with the family will give a timeline and written record to Cantrill. Cantrill's task will be to describe the work of every agency. Her report will not apportion blame.
Three decades of horror

Mid-1970s
Daughters are born.

Late 1970s
Police are involved when younger sister is taken to hospital with a broken arm. Family members claim father threw her across room.

1981
First rapes take place. The sisters told social workers they were raped on average every three days for 27 years.

Mid-1980s
Police contacted again when older girl shows signs of abuse and neglect at school. No action taken.

1988
Maternal grandmother contacts South Yorkshire police after father removes one daughter and baby from house; officer warns allegation could be slanderous.

1980s and 1990s
Multiple pregnancies - seven for older girl, 12 for her sister. Younger girl told court that once when she miscarried, her mother flushed away aborted foetus without asking about the father. Two infants died at birth, five pregnancies terminated and five miscarried. Sisters are given genetic counselling because of frequent birth defects. Family move around Lincolnshire. Girls' mother and brother leave home.

1997
Lincolnshire police investigate after the girls' brother contacts them. No action taken.

1998
One daughter rings Childline, but hangs up after she is not given guarantee children will not be placed in care if they make complaint.

2004
Family moves to Sheffield.

February 2008
Abuse stops, according to the women.

June 2
One sister tells social worker about abuse. South Yorkshire police alerted.

June 6
Man charged with 25 rapes and four sexual assaults.
Independent

Brit Fritzl's son reported abuse

THE son of a man branded the British Fritzl today blamed social services for not protecting his rape victim sisters.
The man – who cannot be named for legal reasons – revealed he told cops and social workers what was happening after he found out when he turned 18.

But he claimed that – despite what he said – no action was taken.

SUN