East Lancashire 'sex tyrant' accused of fathering four children with step-daughter (From Lancashire Telegraph)
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East Lancashire 'sex tyrant' accused of fathering four children with step-daughter
6:14pm Thursday 4th October 2012 in News
A father of 14 was a "tyrant" who raped his own step-daughter, fathering four children with her, a jury has heard.
Prosecutors have described how the 58-year-old controlled his children and his partners with verbal, physical and, in some cases, sexual abuse for more than 20 years.
The court heard the family, which moved around but lived for periods in the Burnley area of Lancashire and in West Yorkshire, eventually included the man, his wife, a mistress and 16 children - 14 of them biologically his.
Judge Jonathan Gibson told the jury the man has been declared unfit to plead to the various charges he faces due to his "deteriorating intellectual capacity".
The judge said the jury's role in the proceedings which started today was to determine whether the defendant did the acts outlined in the charges.
He faces 42 separate counts, some of which are specimen charges.
These are seven counts of rape, six of causing actual bodily harm, 17 of child cruelty, seven of indecent assault, four of false imprisonment and one of damaging property.
The defendant was not in court today.
