Image caption A jury at Swansea Crown Court found the man guilty of rape after a three-week trial

A man who fathered at least six children with his own daughter has been handed a 40-year extended life sentence.

The man from south west Wales was found guilty of repeatedly raping two of his daughters and one of the girls they subsequently gave birth to.

The man, who cannot be named to protect his victims' identity, showed no emotion as he was sentenced.

Judge Paul Thomas QC told him: "Your behaviour was totally evil."

He jailed the man to 33 years with a further seven years to be served on extended licence.

During the trial, the court was told the defendant "groomed" his two daughters, and a daughter subsequently born as a result, into having sex with him by acting as a "psychic" who sent them emails telling them what to do.

The man also organised the rape of one daughter by his friend, as he watched.

DNA tests showed he had fathered at least six of his own daughter's children, one of whom he went on to abuse.

He claimed it was the girls who were blackmailing him and the sex was consensual because he did not know they were his own children.

Judge Thomas had previously said it was among the worst cases he had been involved with.

He told the man: "What you did to your family over a period of around 20 years plumbed the depths of depravity.

"You have left your victims, your daughters, with their lives in pieces.

"You raped them countless times, well into the hundreds.

"You took advantage of their extreme vulnerability caused by their age and circumstances and abused them cynically, mercilessly, evilly.

"In short, you are as cowardly as you are wicked."

What did the victims say?

In victim impact statements released by police after the case, two of the defendant's daughters outlined how they were affected by the horrors they were forced to endure.

One said: "This man was supposed to be my father, it was his responsibility to raise and protect me, not abuse me.

"What I got was a man who used me for his own gratification, controlled what I did, where I went and who I saw.

"He took my teenage years away from me. This should have been a happy time in my life.

"He made me live in fear continuously whilst growing up. He made me feel so small in a big world, I've never had a true friend, never been allowed close to anybody.

"I was made to feel like a useless individual and that I would get nowhere in life.

"It was not until I met my husband in recent years that I have been able to feel like a normal human being and make my own decisions in life.

"However, this still comes with some insecurities, I feel paranoid if my husband buys me gifts and find it difficult to accept compliments and gestures.

"I have gone on to have two beautiful children and this is what gave me the courage to come forward.

"I am there to protect my children. I am hoping this will help me move on in my life and give my children the upbringing that I never had.

"I have kept this secret for the past 14 years with him looking over my shoulder.

"Telling the truth about what happened has finally set me free from him."

'A monster of a man'

His other daughter said: "At the most impressionable age of my life I went to live with my father.

"In the beginning I loved him as a father. I continued to love him despite him tricking me, fooling me and abusing me.

"I knew no different. I believed it to be a normal upbringing.

"I missed out on learning about life, friends, parties and work.

"I never learned what true love was or what a relationship should be. My life has been one big secret.

"It was not until this year I realised what a monster of a man he is.

"I look back at my life and feel like a fool to have believed everything he told me."

'Lives were controlled'

Hayley Fackrell from the Crown Prosecution Service said: "These sickening acts of abuse were carried out by a person that was supposed to protect and care for the victims, but instead he systematically controlled their lives, grooming them for his sexual gratification."

He will not be eligible for release for 22 years. The extended sentence means the man will be eligible for recall to prison, should he be released, until he is 100 years old.