WHEN a Coventry teenager confided in her father that she was gay, his reaction was to brutally rape her in a bid to ‘prove’ to her that sex with a man was better.
The perverted father, who cannot be named to protect the identities of his victims, sexually abused the girl and her half sister over a 20-year period.
And with two further rapes, the 54-year-old will now spend up to 21 years behind bars after a judge gave him what is known as an extended sentence.
The father had pleaded not guilty at Warwick Crown Court to a total of nine charges of indecent assault, one of indecency with a child and three of rape.
With one of his victims in court, he was sentenced to 21 years in prison, extended by an additional five years on licence following his eventual release, meaning he will have to serve at least two-thirds his sentence, rather than the normal half.
The court had heard that his offending had spanned a period of more than 20 years throughout the 1980s and 90s.
It began with sexual abuse of his step-daughter and, after she left home, moved on to abusing his own daughter.
Judge Andrew Lockhart QC pointed out that at the time of the defendant’s indecent assaults on his step-daughter in the 1980s, the maximum sentence was just five years – whereas now he could have faced life imprisonment for penetrative sexual activity.
He told the father: “Across a period of 21 years you were committing serious sexual offences against your step-daughter and your daughter.
“Counts one to three were when you were grooming and moving towards sexually touching your step-daughter. She was 11, and this went on for three years. It was regular and progressed to penetration of her.
“It affected her greatly. She left the home, and she thought her sister would be safe, because she thought you would never touch your own daughter in the way you had touched her.
“But you groomed your daughter in the same way and began assaults on her. This was grave and protracted offending.
“As a 16-year-old girl she realised she was gay and, struggling with her identity as many people do at that age, she decided to tell you.
“You reacted by showing real and uncontrolled anger, and you decided to rape her to show her why it would be better to have sex with men than women. Her evidence made harrowing listening.
“That rape involved degradation and humiliation. The offence demonstrated your hostility towards her as a lesbian. That is clearly an aggravating feature. It is also aggravated by the further two rapes.
“The court heard from both of these two women. They have both been severely psychologically damaged by your behaviour.
“Listening to (the step-daughter’s) evidence of her feeling of guilt at leaving her sister to face you was the most harrowing of evidence.”
And Judge Lockhart added: “The sentence will mean you are a very old man when you are released.”
The father’s barrister, Sally Hancox, argued that the offences could be dealt with by a ‘determinate sentence,’ pointing out that since his offending ended there had been a number of years without him committing any further offences.
But that was rejected by Judge Lockhart who imposed the extended sentence and also ordered the father to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life.
Following his conviction, the case was adjourned for a report to be prepared on him to deal with the issue of whether he poses an on-going danger to children.
