A JURY has convicted a father of cruelty and sex charges against three girls when they were aged between seven and 11. The 39-year-old computer programmer from Stevenage was told to expect a prison sentence measured in years . He was first arrested when

A JURY has convicted a father of cruelty and sex charges against three girls when they were aged between seven and 11.

The 39-year-old computer programmer from Stevenage was told to expect a prison sentence "measured in years".

He was first arrested when a neighbour's daughter made sexual allegations against him in April last year.

But later in the year two of his own daughters told their grandparents of their lives of ill treatment and sexual touching and he was arrested again.

Samantha Cohen, prosecuting at Luton Crown Court, said the man was a heavy drinker and a bully who would fly into rages.

On one occasion he found hairs in a tub of Twiglets, where his 11-year-old daughter had picked up some she had dropped on the carpet. He urinated into the tub and made her drink from it, the jury was told.

When giving evidence the defendant denied that had happened.

He said: "I threw the lot away. I was a bit angry. But the suggestion she has made is disgusting, it is so horrible. I cannot think where she got an idea like that from."

He also denied that he had got his seven-year-old daughter to touch him indecently, or another daughter to commit an indecent act, or that he had behaved in a sexually inappropriate way with the eight-year-old daughter of a neighbour.

Miss Cohen said other examples of his cruelty were that he burnt a treasured toy frog in front of one girl, said he would eat the cat's brains, killed his tropical fish in temper and threatened to throw all their toys away.

He pleaded not guilty to two charges of cruelty but was convicted unanimously by a jury. He also pleaded not guilty to five charges of sexual activity with a child and was found guilty of three. He was cleared of one charge and the jury failed to reach a verdict on the remaining count.

The charges covered a period between December 2004 and April 2005.

Judge Michael Kay QC remanded him in custody on Tuesday for reports but told him: "The only possible sentence is a custodial one and it will be measured in years."

The man will be sentenced next month.

The mother of the eight-year-old gorl said after the case: "It's been hell over the last 15 months and I'm over the moon with the outcome,

"All involved can slowly rebuild their lives and there's now one less monster on the streets of Stevenage to terrorise our children.