A father was jailed for 10 months at Birmingham Crown Court after pleading guilty to having sex with a relative between 2008 and 2010, after being discovered by a young family member
A seven-year-old boy had a horrifying experience when he discovered his “highly manipulative” father in bed with his own daughter. Andrew Butler, then 47, split from his former wife Katrina in 1990 due to alleged violence towards her and their two children, one of who was his daughter Nicola Yates.
Nicola was just seven when Butler left their Birmingham home, and she had no interaction with him until her 20s, when she found him online. Butler’s seven-year-old stepson first found them in bed together in 2007 and told his mother, who reported the couple to the police.
Within a year of reuniting, Yates – who received a community punishment sentence for the initial offence – had moved in with Butler, unbeknownst to her family, the prosecutor stated, reports the Mirror.
In July 2012, Butler and Yates admitted to engaging in sexual relations with a relative, between 2008 and 2010. Butler was sentenced to 10 months in prison and Yates, 26, received a 26-week suspended sentence at Birmingham Crown Court.
Previously, he was handed a four-month suspended sentence for incest in 2007.
Sentencing the pair for their most recent crime, Judge James Burbidge said: “There appears to have been a relationship that involved genuine affection, but it was also an illicit relationship, a relationship that is regarded as abhorrent to society at large.”
Prosecutor Madhu Rai stated that Yates had hidden her relationship with Butler from her family, following their initial convictions.
In 2008 Yates revealed she had a new partner named Andrew Bicknell, a fictitious identity which acted as a front for the relationship with her father, the court was told.
Officers discovered love letters and cards the duo had swapped along with explicit photographs and messages on their mobile devices and computers.
In March 2010, Yates’ stepsister Natalie called at the couple’s home and discovered explicit pictures of the pair on Yates’ phone.
Natalie photographed the images on her phone and presented them to her parents who recognised Andrew Bicknell was actually Butler – Yates’ biological father and her mother’s former husband.
They were arrested at their home in Bordesley Green in September 2010.
The judge described Butler as a “manipulative individual”, whilst Yates was “very vulnerable” and had a background of inappropriate relationships.
In mitigation, Butler’s barrister Rob Cowley stated: “This was not a relationship that involved any element of coercion, manipulation or abuse of power or authority.”
Representing Yates, Liz D’Oliviera said her client felt guilty she had not been permitted to see her father whilst growing up and yearned for a relationship with him.