A father who repeatedly raped his two daughters and fathered nine babies with them during a 35-year orgy of physical and sexual abuse escaped detection due to a litany of failings by care professionals, a report revealed today.
Professor Pat Cantrill, author of the independent report, said that action should have been taken to rescue the women at least a decade earlier once a “substantial picture” of the abuses had been drawn up.
She said a culture of “having a quiet word” had contributed to the failure to intervene, despite seven allegations of incest from members of the family.
Public sector agencies in Sheffield and Lincolnshire today issued an unreserved apology to the women, now adults, for failing to protect them from their fatherChris Cook, independent chair of Lincolnshire Safeguarding Children Board, said: “We are genuinely sorry. We should have protected you.”
Agencies involved with the family failed to take action against the father even though he was accused of incest on seven separate occasions, with a further 12 reported incidents of violence.
The 57-year-old man, who cannot be named to protect his children, received 25 life sentences after his daughters finally told social workers of their lifelong ordeal in 2008.
An independent review of the case, published today, disclosed that more than 100 care professionals from 28 agencies were involved with the family in Sheffield and Lincolnshire over a 35-year period from 1973 to 2008.
The report found that professionals were suspicious that the man was fathering his daughters’ children and there were seven family allegations reported to professionals about incest or sexual abuse.
On 23 separate occasions from 1998 to 2005 the girls were specifically asked about the paternity of their children by various people, it said.
The report said: “Between 1990 and 1996 either Adult M or Adult N was pregnant every year or on some occasions twice a year. On four occasions they were pregnant at the same time.”
No action was taken because professionals felt that there was nothing they could do. It was not until the family returned to Sheffield and the police were given a statement in 2008 that the man was arrestedThe family was on the child protection register from 1978 to 1988 when they moved to Lincolnshire, due to medical reports of non-accidental injuries and poor school attendance, although the report said there was no indication that any agency was aware of factors to suggest the girls were being sexually abused.
Mrs Cantrill said: “By 1997 there was a substantial picture in place which should have reflected in action being taken to help these women.”
During the 35 years, the white British family moved home 67 times as the father, who controlled his wife and children through "violence, intimidation, bullying and emotional control", sought to evade detection.
In total, 16 child protection conferences or strategy meetings were held to discuss concerns about the family, but none led to the children being removed from their fatherThe executive summary of the serious case review reveals that between 1988 and 2002 the two daughters were pregnant 16 times, on four occasions at the same time. Nine babies or pregnancies were lost due to genetic disorders and of the seven surviving children two have severe physical disabilities.
Though suspicions grew that the babies' grandfather was also their father, professionals "considered... there was nothing they could do".
One of the report's main findings is that police, care and medical professionals "failed to listen and consider the situation from the child's perspective". It states: "Too often professionals took the word of parents at face value without considering the effects on the child."
The Safeguarding Children Boards from both counties, which were responsible for the family over the period of abuse, insisted that changes had already been made to better protect families from abuse.
Sue Fiennes, independent chair of Sheffield Safeguarding Children Board, said: “We want to apologise to the family at the heart of this case. It will be clear that we failed this family.
“This report will not make comfortable reading for any of the organisations concerned with the family.
“We are all committed to working relentlessly to do all we can to minimise the risk of this happening again, and indeed we have taken action. Lessons are being learned by the agencies involved.”
In November, Sheffield Crown Court heard that the man’s campaign of terror and abuse started when the women were aged between eight and 10. If they refused their father’s advances, they were badly beaten.
Both daughters were raped repeatedly during their ordeal, which started in 1981. At the start they were attacked every day, while for long periods they would be raped two or three times a week.
If they refused, they would be punched, kicked and sometimes held to the flames of a gas fire, burning their eyes and arms.
The court heard 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 problems with their pregnancies.
He would even rape them 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.
At the time, Judge Alan Goldsack QC told the court that questions would inevitably be asked as to what professionals had “been doing for the last 20 years”.
Source:The Times
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