A man has gone on trial accused of beating and sexually abusing his three daughters in a catalogue of abuse beginning more than four decades ago.

The 69-year-old man is alleged to have left the girls naked in a cellar, struck them with a belt and indecently assaulted them at the family home in Bradford, in his lorry and in a tent on a seaside holiday.

He denies 26 offences, including three charges of child cruelty, 16 of indecent assault and seven of gross indecency, between 1967 and 1980.

Prosecutor Kitty Taylor told the jury at Bradford Crown Court yesterday the alleged victims were now women in their 40s.

Mrs Taylor said they lived with their parents in Girlington when the abuse was alleged to have taken place.

The jury was told that the man, who cannot be identified to protect the identity of his daughters, was a cruel and domineering father whose children were afraid of him.

He dominated life in the home and his wife had very little say in what went on.

“The prosecution say this man was controlling and frightening. He was a drinker and a gambler and a violent man. His discipline was severe,” Mrs Taylor said.

She alleged he had a temper in drink that led him to take a belt to his daughters and leave them naked in a cold and dark cellar as punishment.

Mrs Taylor accused the man of sexually assaulting one girl in the living room when she was seven or eight years old.

She said he drew the curtains and locked the door to abuse her. He is also alleged to have molested her in the cellar and in a tent on a camping holiday in Great Yarmouth.

The jury heard the man physically abused a second girl from when she was about five and sexually assaulted her from the age of seven or eight.

She and one of her sisters went to the police in March last year to report the alleged abuse.

The second girl said her father abused her in a lorry and threatened to smack her if she told anyone.

The third daughter said she was slapped round the face and left in the cellar for hours with no shoes or nightdress. She accused her father of pushing her against a wall and groping her.

Mrs Taylor said the women “bottled up” their feelings for decades to spare their mother.

The man denies all the charges.

The trial continues.