A 61-year-old man from Apeldoorn has been jailed for 16 years for sexually and physically abusing his four daughters for over 20 years. His wife was also jailed for 10 months for aiding the abuse by judges in Arnhem.

The abuse began when the girls, now aged 16 to 28, were very young and continued throughout their youth, the court was told. Four sons were also physically abused but had not made a police complaint about their treatment.

The children were regularly hit with a hot poker, a hairbrush or copy of the Bible and were locked up outside, in the cellar or put under a cold shower.

The abuse took place within the confines of a “strict Christian environment” and the public prosecution department described the family as “closed and religious”.

The court found both parents guilty of physical abuse and the father guilty of sexually abusing his daughters. “He put his own sexual needs first and the abuse was for both him and his wife a normal part of raising children,” the court said.

Both parents have been banned from having any further contact with their children.