An independent review has been launched into the case of a rapist who fathered seven children with his two daughters.
The 56-year-old, who was yesterday sentenced to 25 life sentences, repeatedly raped his daughters, who between them went through 19 pregnancies, over a period spanning more than a quarter of a century.
His crimes have been likened to those of the Austrian rapist Josef Fritzl who kept his daughter locked in a cellar for 24 years, fathering seven children by her.
Judge Alan Goldsack ordered the Sheffield man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, to serve 25 life sentences that will run concurrently. He said the minimum term the rapist should serve in jail should be 19 and a half years.
Last night Sheffield City Council's Children and Young People's Specialist Services confirmed a Serious Case Review had been launched.
After the sentencing at Sheffield Crown Court, Chief Supt Simon Torr read a statement from the two victims.
The statement said: "Today this offender has been sentenced to life imprisonment. His detention in prison brings us only the knowledge that he cannot physically touch us again.
"The suffering he has caused will continue for many years and we must now concentrate our thoughts on finding the strength to rebuild our lives.
"We do not wish to comment further on the factors of the abuse we suffered and hope that answers will be found during the Serious Case Review."
The court heard how the man's campaign started when the women were aged between eight and 10. If they refused their father's advances they were badly beaten.
Judge Goldsack said: "The phrase 'it is difficult to imagine a worse case' is much overused and rarely, if ever, true. I am not going to say no worse case of rape within a family situation will ever come to light.
"But I can say that in nearly 40 years of dealing with criminal cases and 14 as a family judge the combination of aggravating circumstances here is the worst I have come across.
"I have little doubt that many members of the public hearing the facts of this case will consider either you should never be released from prison or only when you are old and infirm. I agree with that view."
The defendant refused to attend yesterday's sentencing hearing, during which the court heard he had fathered five children by his younger daughter and two by his elder.
Two of the elder daughter's babies died the day they were born, the court heard. Between them his daughters suffered five miscarriages and five terminations and doctors advised them not to have any more children by the man the doctors did not know then to be their father.
The judge was told that both daughters were raped repeatedly during their ordeal which started in 1981. At the start they were attacked every day, while for long periods they would be raped two or three times a week.
If they refused their father's request they would be punched, kicked and sometimes held to the flames of a gas fire, burning their eyes and arms.
The court heard the defendant, who called himself the "gaffer" when at the family's home, took "pleasure" in fathering children by his daughters and would continue to rape them despite there being problems with their pregnancies.
He would even rape his daughters while they were pregnant and they would have to take it in turns to baby-sit their children while the other was forced to have sex with him.
Their only reprieve came after they had just given birth or when they were ill because of the abuse.
They often visited hospitals but despite this none of the doctors, nurses or social workers they saw launched an investigation into why they kept getting pregnant, the court heard.
Judge Goldsack told the court "As a result of this case questions will inevitably be asked about what professionals, social and medical workers, have been doing for the last 20 years."
James Baird, representing the defendant, launched a stinging attack on social services in both Sheffield and Lincolnshire, which was where the defendant fled with his family in the 1990s to avoid detection.
"It must be inconceivable to those who have listened to this case that these offences have been carried out, in this day and age in a so-called civilised society, over such a long time and with such consequences, without them being reported or investigated," he said.
"All the signs were indicative of an incestuous relationship. It is my submission that despite these circumstances and real suspicion, nothing was done by Lincolnshire social services or Sheffield social services about how any woman could endure these pregnancies.
"What is clear from the case is that the complainants and the children have attended many, many hospital appointments, but none of the medical experts have sought to probe these circumstances and accepted the complainants' case that the father of their children was not their father."
Outside court, Jayne Ludlum, who is director of Sheffield City Council's Children and Young People's Specialist Services, said: "Due to the seriousness of this case, an independent review has already been launched which will look into the circumstances surrounding the case and the contact that agencies had with the victims to investigate what could have been done better and highlight any lessons to be learned." The review will be conducted by Prof Pat Cantrill.