Clegg hits out at local authorities after Sheffield father raped and tortured daughters

Published by Jon Land for 24dash.com in Communities and also in Local Government

Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg said today he "can't imagine a better definition of being evil" than the case of a father who repeatedly raped his two daughters, making them pregnant 19 times over a period spanning more than quarter of a century.

Mr Clegg, who is MP for Sheffield Hallam, was commenting as concern continued to mount over the role of schools, social services, police and health services in the lives of the two girls involved.

He told BBC Radio FiveLive: "I can't imagine a better definition of being evil than torturing your own children in his abusive way.

"Some of the details are just heart-rending."

Mr Clegg added: "I've never come across anything which is as stomach- churning as this.

"Of course the question is how on earth did something like this happen without someone noticing?"

Yesterday, Sheffield social services announced an independent review into the case of the 56-year-old rapist who fathered seven children with his two daughters.

The announcement came after he was given 25 life sentences by a judge at Sheffield Crown Court (pictured) and ordered to serve a minimum of 19 and a half years in prison before he is considered for release.

The father's crimes have been likened to those of Austrian rapist Josef Fritzl, who kept his daughter locked in a cellar for 24 years, fathering seven children by her.

Mr Clegg said: "If they didn't do what he wanted, he put their faces near a gas fire. I think one of the daughters started paying him some of her child benefit to try and stop him abusing her.

"If that doesn't fit the bill for what evil is, I don't know what does."

Asked "Where were the medical professionals? Where were the social workers? What were they doing for the last 20 years?", Mr Clegg said: "Yes, we don't know. Those are the big questions that needs to be asked.

"The other questions are for the people at school. The girls went to school. Did they not notice anything?

"Social services in Lincolnshire and Sheffield - did they not notice anything? The girls were going in and out of hospital - did they not notice anything?

"That's why I spoke last night to the leader of Sheffield City Council, to the Chief Constable of South Yorkshire and this all needs to be looked at completely independently.

"That's the crucial thing. They've got someone from outside to look at it independently and to make sure that we know that if there have been any major failings in the system that those are brought to light."

Mr Clegg said he was never in the habit of second-guessing judges but added: "I tend to share the feeling that if you want to think of a crime that doesn't deserve anyone to ever walk free again, this is one of the them."

Last night, Mr Clegg's fellow Sheffield MP, former home secretary David Blunkett said: "This has clearly been a highly complex and almost unprecedentedly bizarre case."

He said it was difficult to determine who, outside of the family, could have been expected to take steps to intervene.

Mr Blunkett, who is MP for Sheffield Brightside, said: "We should always ask 'What on earth were those close to this actually thinking?', and then ask what responsibility others might have had, if they had any knowledge or could have been expected to have any knowledge at all.

"Clearly, there is a need to inquire into all the circumstances, the chronology and whether, when the family moved, as they did in 1998 and 2004, any information was transferred.

"Those who at least made an effort to do something should not be the ones who are pinpointed - it is those who did not who should examine their conscience."

Prosecutors described the man's abuse of his daughters as "beyond comprehension".

Crown prosecutor Ian Keates said: "In his treatment of his victims, the defendant sank to the most profound depths of depravity."

Jayne Ludlum, who is director of Sheffield City Council's Children and Young People's Specialist Services, confirmed the launch of a Serious Case Review which will be conducted by former civil servant Professor Pat Cantrill.

Ms Ludlum said: "This is one of the most harrowing cases we have dealt with and to say that we were shocked to find the level of abuse perpetrated by this person is an understatement. It is hard to comprehend how this could happen in today's society."

A spokeswoman for the primary care trust, NHS Sheffield, said the organisation did not want to comment ahead of the Serious Case Review.

Chief Superintendent Simon Torr said he wanted to respond to suggestions that South Yorkshire Police could have halted the "appalling" abuse if officers had acted earlier.

Mr Torr said: "This has been a professional investigation from the moment the victim first disclosed the abuse."

Yesterday the officer read a statement from the two victims.

The statement said: "Today this offender has been sentenced to life imprisonment. His detention in prison brings us only the knowledge that he cannot physically touch us again.

"The suffering he has caused will continue for many years and we must now concentrate our thoughts on finding the strength to rebuild our lives.

"We do not wish to comment further on the factors of the abuse we suffered and hope that answers will be found during the Serious Case Review."

Yesterday's day-long sentencing hearing was told that the man's campaign started when the women were aged between eight and 10. If they refused their father's advances they were badly beaten.

The defendant, who cannot be named for legal reasons, refused to attend the hearing during which the court heard he had fathered five children by his youngest daughter and two by his eldest.

Two of the eldest daughter's babies died the day they were born, the court heard.

Between them his daughters suffered five miscarriages and five terminations and doctors advised them not to have any more children by the man they did not know then to be their father.

The family moved around various addresses in South Yorkshire and Lincolnshire.

The judge was told that both daughters were raped repeatedly during their ordeal, which began in 1981. At the start they were attacked every day, and for long periods they were raped two or three times a week.

If they refused their father's request they would be punched, kicked and sometimes held to the flames of a gas fire, burning their eyes and arms.

The court heard that the defendant, who called himself the "gaffer" when at the family's home, took "pleasure" in fathering children by his daughters and would continue to rape them despite there being problems with their pregnancies.

He would even rape his daughters while they were pregnant and they would have to take it in turns to babysit their children while the other was forced to have sex with him.

Their only reprieve came after they had just given birth or when they were ill because of the abuse.

They often visited hospitals but, despite this, none of the doctors, nurses or social workers they saw launched an investigation into why they kept getting pregnant, the court heard.

Judge Alan Goldsack QC, sentencing the man yesterday, said: "The phrase 'it is difficult to imagine a worse case' is much overused and rarely, if ever, true. I am not going to say no case of rape within a family situation will ever come to light.

"But I can say that, in nearly 40 years of dealing with criminal cases and 14 as a family judge, the combination of aggravating circumstances here is the worst I have come across.

"I have little doubt that many members of the public hearing the facts of this case will consider either you should never be released from prison or only when you are old and infirm. I agree with that view."

Judge Goldsack told the court: "As a result of this case, questions will inevitably be asked about what professionals, social and medical workers have been doing for the last 20 years."

James Baird, representing the defendant, launched a stinging attack on social services in both Sheffield and Lincolnshire, which was where the man fled with his family in the 1990s to avoid detection.

Mr Baird said: "It must be inconceivable to those who have listened to this case that these offences have been carried out, in this day and age in a so-called civilised society, over such a long time and with such consequences, without them being reported or investigated.

"All the signs were indicative of an incestuous relationship. It is my submission that, despite these circumstances and real suspicion, nothing was done by Lincolnshire Social Services or Sheffield Social Services about how any woman could endure these pregnancies.

"What is clear from the case is that the complainants and the children have attended many, many hospital appointments, but none of the medical experts have sought to probe these circumstances and accepted the complainants' case that the father of their children was not their father."

The chief executive of the Rape and Sexual Abuse Support Centre, Yvonne Traynor, said: "The daughters have shown enormous courage despite being mentally, sexually and physically abused by their 'father' and I hope that this gives other women and children the impetus to report any abuse they may be going through, because as we in RASASC know this type of situation is not as unlikely as we would all like to believe.

"I truly believe that 19 and a half years in prison for this despicable crime perpetrated over 25 years is not nearly sufficient.

"This man should never be let out of prison because he most certainly will abuse again."

Graham Allen, Labour MP for Nottingham North, has campaigned for more to be done to help the poorest children and their parents at the earliest stage possible.

He said today: "Baby P and the Sheffield father are just the tip of an iceberg of abuse and neglect, which needs now to be addressed strategically by government, rather than on a piecemeal basis of condemnation, one-off inquiries and scapegoating.

"It is clear that, if we are to resolve these problems in the long-term, there has to be an inter-generational strategy, supported and promoted by government, to improve the levels of social and emotional competence in those who will become parents.

"Anything less will be abdicating the duty of policy-makers to look beyond the immediate, however awful, and propose long-term answers.

"Early intervention, currently being practised in Nottingham, is both cheaper and more effective than waiting for symptoms, such as the recent cases, to emerge, or for high levels of teenage pregnancy, anti-social behaviour and low educational attainment to be fire-fought rather than reduced at source by effective policy interventions."

Peter Duxbury, director of children's services at Lincolnshire County Council, and chairman of the Lincolnshire Safeguarding Children Board, said: "First of all I would like to express my sincere sympathy for the victims in this case.

"They were terrorised by this man who received 25 life sentences for his crimes.

"Since these events took place thankfully our child protection systems have improved a great deal.

"Significant improvements have been made to ensure the safety of children in Lincolnshire."

"In line with Lord Laming's recommendations in 2003, there has been a wholesale reorganisation of children's services and the establishment of a Lincolnshire Safeguarding Children Board which provides effective management and ensures proper standards for the safety of children are maintained.

"We will be co-operating with Sheffield in the completion of an independent review. Our safeguarding processes for children in Lincolnshire are good and subject to constant scrutiny and review."

Lord Laming conducted the inquiry into the death of Victoria Climbie in London in 2000.

Mr Duxbury later acknowledged that there had been contacts between social services in Lincolnshire and Sheffield regarding the family.

"During that time information was shared between the authorities, although, I must say, not to the standard we would expect nowadays to happen," he told BBC Radio 4's The World At One.

"Clearly there are issues looking back with hindsight which have been raised which, I must say, if we were dealing with these now, would probably be dealt with in a different way."