A MAN who for years sexually abused his sisters has been jailed. The man, who is 34 and from Stevenage, has now been completely deserted by his family. Since arrest and remand in custody nearly a year ago when his crimes first came to light, not a single

A MAN who for years sexually abused his sisters has been jailed.

The man, who is 34 and from Stevenage, has now been completely deserted by his family.

Since arrest and remand in custody nearly a year ago when his crimes first came to light, not a single member of his family has visited him.

Luton Crown Court heard that the man had sexually abused three younger sisters at their home in Stevenage.

Yesterday (Thursday) he appeared for sentence in relation to two of them.

Judge Geoffrey Burke said it had been decided not to bring charges against him concerning a third sister because he was so young when the offences were committed.

The man admitted three charges of indecent assault and three charges of indecency with a child concerning one sister who was eight years his junior.

He also appeared for sentence having been found guilty by a jury earlier this year of four counts of indecently assaulting a sister 15 years younger than him and raping her.

The court heard the abuse had followed a similar pattern on each of the girls at different times.

The offences the brother pleaded guilty to took place from the late 1980s and finished in 1995 when the sister was around 11 years old.

Judge Burke said the brother had regularly called the girl into his bedroom and touched and fondled her and made her touch him.

"You persuaded her to go along with what you wanted by threatening to tell your father who she loved dearly," said the judge.

"It's obvious this was a sustained and serious course of sexual abuse on a very young girl - your own sister - supported by threats to obtain her compliance."

The judge said the offences on the second sister which were the subject of the trial began when she was seven years old and he was in his 20s.

The court heard it was in 2007 that the girl told her boyfriend there were "things" she had not yet told him. The police were told in 2008.

The judge said victim impact statements made by the sisters showed that they had both suffered over the years as adults because of what had happened when they were children.

One sister spoke of her life being ruined, the difficulty in trusting men, socialising and depression. She said she even thought about taking her own life.

The younger sister who had been raped also spoke of the nightmares she has suffered over the years.

Geoffrey Birch, defending, said the brother hadn't committed any offences since 2000.

Judge Burke jailed him for 10 years in relation to the offences he was convicted of at his trial, plus a further two years for the offences he admitted.

In addition he made a sexual offences prevention order which prevents the defendant from having any unsupervised contact with children under 16.

He was also told he was being disqualified from ever being able to work with children. His name will also be put on the sexual offences register for life.