A Reading man has been locked up after being found guilty of sexual activity with his daughter.

The 42-year-old, who cannot be named for legal reasons, will spend a number of years behind bars after a jury found him guilty of a series of sexual offences last month.

He was found guilty of touching his daughter’s breasts and groin area, thrusting against her, pulling her clothing down to view her genitals and asking her to masturbate when she was aged between 14-15.

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The North Reading man was convicted of four counts of sexual activity with a child family member and two counts of causing or inciting a child to engage in sexual activity.

During a trial, Reading Crown Court heard how the father’s depraved activities were discovered by the girl’s mother when she found letters from a friend of her daughter.

In these letters, the girl’s friend urged her to tell someone about her father’s alleged abuse.

The victim’s friend wrote: “He put you through absolute hell and in my opinion, deserves to pay for what he has done.”

During the trial, a jury was shown a video of the alleged victim being interviewed, in which she claimed her father would leave the room ‘happier’ after touching her, and that her father promised to ‘reward’ her if she touched herself.

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In a victim statement read by prosecutor Charles Ward-Jackson, the man’s daughter said: “The things Dad has done have made a very significant impact on my mental health.

“It has made me lost trust in people and caused me to become depressed. I was trying to self-harm as an outlet for the pain.

“I always thought of the situation as being my fault as I would let him do these things to me and I didn’t tell him to stop but I was scared of how he would react if I did.”

Her Honour Judge Real asked for the victim statement to be read out in court so the defendant could hear about “the effect” his actions have had on her.

The judge said: “This whole thing has been devastating for the whole of your family.”

The 42-year-old was sentenced to five years and six months in prison. He will serve half of this before being eligible for release.

A ten-year restraining order was also imposed, barring the defendant from contacting his daughter for a decade.

He was sentenced at Reading Crown Court on Friday, June 10.