A man who fathered nine children with two of his own daughters will be sentenced today after admitting raping the girls over a 30-year period.

The father has been compared with the Austrian rapist Josef Fritzl, who kept his daughter locked in a dungeon for 24 years as he fathered seven children with her.

The self-employed businessman from Sheffield got his daughters pregnant 19 times and nine children were born. Seven of the children are still alive.

Police and social services have started an independent review into allegations that officials were first told of the abuse more than 20 years ago.

The rapes started when the girls were aged about eight. The abuse only ended in February this year when police finally arrested the father, who cannot be named to protect the identity of his daughters and grandchildren.

The 56-year-old man moved his family around the country so the girls never remained in one place long enough to make friends in whom they could confide.

Relatives of the family claim they told police of the abuse after the birth of the first child, but officers failed to act. They say the girls' grandmother was told she could be sued for slander for telling officers that the girl’s father had got her pregnant.

The rapist’s sister-in-law told a local newspaper: “The police could have stopped it. They let those girls down. Our family has gone to the police a number of times over the years.

“We all suspected what was going on, did not agree with it, and it was reported to the police when the oldest daughter first gave birth.

“People may ask, ‘How could the family not do anything about this?’. But we tried to get it to stop. We went to the police but nothing was done.”

Concerns were raised when the oldest daughter’s school became suspicious about her upbringing when she arrived for lessons hungry and covered in bruises aged around 10.

But when staff raised the matter the father pulled his daughters out of school and moved the family to another area.

Times Recommends

• UK regional accents thrive against the odds
• ‘Scarecrow’ wind farms put rare birds to flight
• What an anti-climax: G-spot is a myth