A FATHER has been jailed for six years after a jury convicted him of a catalogue of abuse against two of his children.
The man, aged in his 50s, was tried at Bristol Crown Court alongside his wife, who is in her 40s.
They were jointly accused of cruelty to their son and daughter in a household where beatings, denial of food and other harsh punishments were considered "normal".
The father was also accused of sexually abusing a daughter from a previous relationship.
He flatly denied all the allegations, telling the jury he did not know why the children had made them.
But the jury convicted him of four indecent assaults and two charges of indecency with a child relating to the elder child.
He was cleared of cruelty to a younger daughter but found guilty of cruelty to a son.
His wife denied cruelty to the two younger children but was convicted.
She will be sentenced next month.
None of the members of the family, from south Bristol, can be named to protect the victims from being identified.
Jailing the man yesterday, Judge Carol Hagen told him: "The aggravating feature (of the sex assaults) was a gross breach of trust – a father touching his six to eight-year-old daughter over a protracted time.
"The cruelty was aggravated by a gross breach of trust, on a small boy entitled to look to his father for protection, not physical abuse."
The jury saw video of an interview the older daughter gave to police in which she said her father would show her films with a violent or sexual content while her mother was out.
She said he would then molest her and make her touch him improperly.
They also heard from a younger daughter who said she and her brother were banned from the bathroom, could not wash, clean their teeth or use the toilet, and were left to defecate all over the house, which was infested with rats.
She said she and her brother were not given food and he used to steal from a shop to eat.
The younger daughter also said she was hit with bottles by drunken strangers at parties thrown by her parents.
The couple's son also said his parents would hit him with sticks and that he was four or five when he was first hit.
The father flatly denied all the allegations.
He recalled how sometimes some of his children had come downstairs to watch TV with him at night, and said: "They might have watched a film not of their age, but not inappropriate."
He also denied sexually abusing his daughter while they watched films.
He said none of the cruelty alleged by the younger children occurred.
The father told the jury: "I don't know why they have made the allegations. I haven't got an answer. I didn't do any of the alleged acts."
After the case, Detective Sergeant Larisa Hunt said: "It was a gross breach of trust and the sentence reflects the seriousness of the offending.
"I give credit to the courage of the victims for coming forward and talking to the police.
"The home environment was not one suitable for children."
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