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A British man was jailed for 11 years today for sexually abusing and raping his daughter, stepdaughters and granddaughter over a 30-year period.

It is the second court case of its kind in Britain during the past few months.

Greater Manchester Police said the man, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, had pleaded guilty to 11 counts of indecency with children, 15 counts of indecent assault, two counts of rape and one count of attempted rape.

He was sentenced at Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court in northern England. He was banned from working with children for life.

Police said he began abusing one girl when she was seven. He began raping her when she was 13 and did not stop the abuse until she was 16.

Each child was too scared to tell anyone and suffered alone, not knowing each was suffering the same horror, police added.

"It has been more than 40 years since the abuse began and it has taken a huge amount of strength for this man's victims to finally report him to police," said detective constable Nicola Graham.

"He took away their childhoods and forced them to live in fear and uncertainty with his sick, perverted behaviour."

Last November another British man was jailed for life at a Sheffield court in northern England for repeatedly raping his two daughters over a 25-year period, fathering seven children by them.

That case recalled the abuse committed by Josef Fritzl, the Austrian rapist who had seven children with his daughter. He had kept her locked in a dungeon for 24 years until the abuse was discovered last April.