Peter is a 50 year-old man who has served two years of a five-year sentence for incest. The conviction relates to offences committed against his daughter, Susan, over a three-year period that commenced when she was 13. The daughter disclosed the offences when she was 18, some years after they had been committed. She had left home and started living with a boyfriend. Following a row in which her father threatened her boyfriend she and the boyfriend had gone to the local police station and made allegations about her father’s behavior.
According to his daughter Peter began with cuddles which turned into sexual touching and by the time she was 14 had moved on to having regular sexual intercourse with her. She said that she began to try to reject his advances as she grew older and that he then became increasingly violent. She eventually moved out as the only way she could get away from him. She said that he was acutely jealous of her boyfriends.
Peter has always denied the offence claiming that his daughter made the allegations in a fit of pique following his attempts to get her to come home. He says that having made these allegations and been believed by her boyfriend she felt unable to admit the truth. Peter’s wife Mary has never believed him guilty. She refers to her daughter as “a little tart” and is bitterly hostile to her over her husband’s imprisonment. When interviewed recently by a probation officer she confirmed that her husband would be welcome back when he was released. They have one other child, still living at home, but he is now 22. When interviewed he referred to his sister as “a little liar who had always been Dad’s favorite”.
Peter has one previous conviction. This was for theft and relates to shoplifting when he was 17 and was, he says, in with a “bad crowd”.
Peter has been in steady employment working as plumber. He expects to be able to start work again easily. He denies ever using drugs and apparently only drinks occasionally.
Peter has been offered a place in a sex offender treatment program but has rejected it on the grounds that it is irrelevant to him as he did not commit the offence.