Teenage girl bravely stands in court to tell her Northamptonshire father how his sexual abuse damaged her and her sister

The Northamptonshire father was described at Northampton Crown Court today (November 18) as someone who presented as an upstanding man.

But, in His Honour Judge Rupert Mayo's words, the man lived with "a very ugly and very dark secret".

Only after his two teenage daughters made disclosures to the police did it emerge that he had sexually abused both girls over the course of three years.

As well as the attacks on both daughters - neither of whom was sure the other was being abused while they lived together - the Northamptonshire father rigged camera systems in the family bathroom to record them while they showered.

But the abuse was unveiled after one of the girls alerted the police to what was happening.

And, at court today, one of the victims bravely stood to tell her father how his offending had hurt her, her sister and their family before he was jailed.

She said: "I believed my father was a good man - hardworking, rational and wise... But he chose to exploit that position of trust.

"It became routine of me to hide my sadness or vulnerability so he could not take advantage of it.

"I still love my dad. It's hard not to love someone who has provided for you your whole life. But there is now a void in my heart where he should be. Three years of making what should have been happy family memories have been overshadowed."

The father later pleaded guilty to the abuse and was jailed at Northampton Crown Court today.

Judge Mayo told him in sentencing: "The impact of what you did will last forever.

"I cannot put what you did into words better than these two brave children, who alerted authorities and indicated the damage you have done to them, and put it so eloquently into words today.

"In an ironic way, you should be proud of them.

"You put your own sexual desires first and robbed them of their childhood."

The man was jailed for six years and three months, and was handed a restraining order that will ban him from contacting his daughters indefinitely.