A WICKED tyrant who sexually abused his three daughters and beat his wife and sons has been jailed for six years.

The Bradford man ruled his terrified family with an iron fist, boarding up the house windows, banning them from walking in the street and hitting the children with a broomstick.

The father, in his mid 40s, wept in the dock at Bradford Crown Court yesterday as the shocking details of his depraved, violent and controlling behaviour were outlined.

He pleaded guilty to 15 charges, involving his entire family over the past decade. The offences included multiple sexual assaults, child cruelty and the repeated beating of his disabled wife.

Prosecutor Kate Batty said the abuse came to light when the eldest girl wrote a suicide note and gave it to her sister, ordering her not to open it for six months.

The younger child read the letter and was so distraught she told her teacher and the police were alerted.

Mrs Batty said the eldest girl, now a young woman, had been sexually abused by her father since the age of ten. He kicked and punched her when she was naked, locked her in a room to assault her and threatened her with violence if she told anyone.

When she wanted to marry a boy she met on the internet, he cut off her hair and strangled her with her scarf until her face went blue and she thought she was going to die.

She was sent to Pakistan where he continued to sexually assault her before forcing her to marry someone else.

The girl took overdoses and self-harmed, cutting the name of the man into her leg.

His second daughter was 14 when he began sexually abusing her. The court heard he molested her on her birthday, saying: “Here is my gift to you.”

He made her watch pornography and threatened her with violence.

The man abused his third daughter for two years, beginning when she was 13.

The child, who felt physically sick, was told: “It is our little secret.”

He beat her with a broomstick and a boot and she was later to reveal: “It was like living in hell.”

The court heard that the man physically assaulted his sons. hitting one boy round the head so hard that he was too bruised to attend school.

One child was ten when his father hit him with a broomstick, Mrs Batty said.

The man repeatedly lashed out at his disabled wife, bruising her arms, legs and body. He threw things at her and assaulted her when she was pregnant.

Statements from the victims told of the severe psychological harm they had suffered. One girl said her childhood had been destroyed.

Jon Gregg, the man’s barrister, said he knew he was going to prison for a long time.

“His best mitigation is his guilty plea,” Mr Gregg said.

Passing sentence, Judge Jonathan Rose told the man: “You ruled your household with an iron fist.”

He continued: “Each child endured years of your vile abuse. Your sexual abuse of the girls ended only because the police intervened. The damage that you have done is incalculable.”

Judge Rose said it was “prolonged and pernicious abuse.”

“One can only hope that it is not too late for the damage you have caused to be repaired,” he said.