Dad caged for abusing daughter over 15 years

Monster handed 20-year jail term

A MAN who abused his daughter over a 15-year period was yesterday handed a 20-year prison sentence.

The Co Antrim predator, who cannot be named to protect his victim’s identity, was convicted earlier this year of 40 offences including rape and child cruelty Judge Paul Ramsey told the 73-yearold the attacks were “horrifying”. He added despite being found guilty by a jury, the brute maintained his innocence. Judge Ramsey added: “There has not been, nor is there likely to be, one word of regret, apology or shame, to at least provide his daughter with some crumb of comfort.” The abuse began in the late 1960s and continued up until the 1980s. He first raped her when she was 11, and this continued until she left home. Antrim Crown Court heard the attacks took place in a derelict house and his car. He also raped his daughter when he took her for driving lessons, and on one occasion he picked her and her friends up from a disco, and after dropping her friends off first, he raped her again. The court heard he also used to taunt his daughter about getting her pregnant. The woman, now 52, said she and her siblings were frightened of him and that “if he said jump, you said, ‘how high?’”. During sentencing, Judge Ramsey said a child’s home was the place they should feel most secure – but it was where she faced the “greatest danger”. As a result of the trial – where she had to relive her experience – she was left feeling “incredibly dirty and disgusting”. She has also been left with chronic difficulties due to the abuse she suffered, including panic attacks, depression and low self esteem – and believes her father “has destroyed my life”. More than 3,000 sex crimes were recorded in Northern Ireland last year – the highest level for nearly two decades. But in line with global trends, overall offences have fallen to 1998 levels, the year of the Good Friday Agreement and the signal for a major policing overhaul.