A Thames riverboat captain sexually abused his d

A Thames riverboat captain sexually abused his
daughter from the age of six and told her: ‘You know you like
it,’ the Old Bailey heard.

The father, 56, also said to the girl: ‘I only do it
because I love you,’ alleged prosecutor Miss Sally Howes.

The court heard the abuse began when the girl’s
mother divorced her husband and left the family home.

When the little girl visited her father, the accused
pervert began fondling her.

He would also abuse her in his car when he took
the daughter to visit his new girlfriend in Biggin Hill, the
jury was told.

Counsel claimed the father also used a vibrator on the
girl, now 15.

And as she grew older he had repeated acts of intercourse
with her, it was alleged.

In 1989 the girlfriend moved into the home and sex acts
would invariably take place on Wednesday nights when the girlfriend
was visiting her parents.

‘The defendant co-erced the child by saying things as:
‘You like it really.

You want to learn how to do it properly don’t
you? I only do it because I love you,’ counsel told the jury.

But in August last year, the girl broke down in front
of her mother and blurted out her story.

Her father was arrested the same day and a medical
examination of the girl showed physical irregularities consistent
with her claims.

But the father, from Greenwich, denied all the allegations
put to him.

He denies five charges of indecent assault, three charges
of incest, three of rape, and one of indulging in unnatural sex
act between August 27 1983 and July 31 last year.

The trial continues.

ENDS