A “monster” from Bromley has been jailed for 18 years after he repeatedly sexually abused and raped his stepdaughter between the ages of six and ten. 

The man, 58, who cannot be named to protect the identity of the victim, was found guilty of four counts of rape, four counts of sexual assault and three counts of causing or inciting a child to engage in sexual activity. 

The man started dating the girl’s mum when she was aged two and he quickly became part of their family life, Prosecutor Tyrone Silcott told the court. 

He groomed the victim then began sexually abusing and raping her over a period of four years. 

The court heard that the girl said “she couldn’t remember a time when he didn’t sexually assault her”. 

When the girl was aged ten her mum found an entry in her diary which said that her stepdad had sexually abused her. 

Her mum confronted him about this, but he managed to convince her it was a lie. 

She then confronted her daughter about the entry but she did not want to talk about it and did not want to go to police, the court heard. 

The abuse eventually came to light when the victim, aged ten, told a school friend who then informed a teacher and he was subsequently arrested, Prosecutor Silcott. 

Over the course of two “traumatic” trials at Croydon Crown Court he sought to “demonise” the victim in the eyes of the jury, the court heard. 

Prosecutor Silcott said: “He attempted to depict the ordinary and common feelings of a 10-year-old child whose mother had a partner who was not their biological parent, as an evil plan to ruin his life.” 

The man denied all charges and even lied to the jury during the second trial, Prosecutor Silcott said. 

He added that the defendant showed no remorse for his actions. 

A statement from the victim said: “I have not been able to have a happy childhood. I do have memories of being happy when I was very young, but after that I was very sad all the time. Because of him I had to hide this from everyone.”   

She now suffers panic attacks and has had suicidal thoughts. Her relationship with her mum is now strained. 

A statement from her mum said: “I now realise I had been living with a monster for eight years.” 

The defendant had no convictions prior to this and had previously taught sport to children. 

Judge Anthony Roger Abell told him: “I’m quite satisfied on the evidence I heard that you groomed her by playing all sorts of innocent games.

"You gradually, gradually escalated that into something very unnatural and very sinister, and just very wrong. And you know that.”   

The man was sentenced to 18 years in prison with an additional year on conditional licence.

He was ordered to sign the sex offenders register and to observe a Sexual Harm Prevention Order.