A 50-year-old Bradford man who had sex with his three daughters – making two of them pregnant – has been jailed for 12 years.

The man pleaded guilty to raping two of the girls and having sex with the third, who gave birth to his child last summer.

Bradford Crown Court heard that the “systematic abuse” of the eldest girl happened when she was aged 14 to 16.

The man raped her twice in the bathroom of the family home and in his car after parking up a lane while taking her to school.

Prosecutor Matthew Bean said the vulnerable girl became pregnant in 2008 but miscarried. She believed the defendant was the father.

The man then turned his attention to his youngest daughter, raping her on a bed at her Bradford home when she was 11 or 12.

He had sex with the third girl in 2009 and she gave birth to his child when she was 13.

Mr Bean said the police began an investigation and DNA tests proved the man had fathered his daughter’s child.

The man, who had been held in custody as the case proceeded through the courts, pleaded guilty to five offences yesterday, the day he was to stand trial.

He admitted three specimen charges of raping his eldest daughter between 2006 and 2008, raping his youngest daughter between 2008 and 2010 and sexual activity with his third daughter between October and December 2009.

Mr Bean said the man began a relationship with the girls’ mother in 1990.

He lived at various addresses in West Yorkshire, including the Lidget Green area of Bradford.

The man’s barrister, Simon Myers, said his guilty pleas had spared his daughters the ordeal of giving evidence in court.

“He realises that he will serve a substantial term of imprisonment,” Mr Myers said.

Judge Jonathan Durham Hall QC said the defendant admitted systematically abusing his eldest daughter and specified offences on his middle and youngest girls.

DNA evidence had made his position indefensible but the girls, who are in their teens, still felt protective towards their father.

The judge said the man’s confession of guilt had spared him an 18 to 20-year jail sentence.

The burly-looking defendant sat in the dock with arms folded as the judge told him: “This was a significant abuse of trust of all three of your daughters, all of whom are particularly vulnerable.

“The impact upon them will never be understood or expressed in any degree that measures up to the pain they must and will suffer.”

The judge made a Sexual Offences Prevention Order and said the man must register as a sex offender for the rest of his life.

The court heard that care proceedings were ongoing in relation to several young people in the family.