Daniel Delves, 90, has been jailed for 16 years after raping his 14-year-old stepdaughter and making her pregnant. The former carpenter, of Purfleet-on-Thames, Essex, was sentenced at Snaresbrook Crown Court on 1 September.
Delves began grooming the girl when she was aged 13 in the 1970s, while he was in a relationship with her mother. He raped her multiple times in her bedroom and in his car, telling her he was preparing her for what “boys would do to her”. He also convinced her not to tell her mother about the abuse.
Pregnancy and cover-up
When the youngster fell pregnant, Delves persuaded her to tell her mother that a boy from her school was the unborn child’s father. After the child was born, the girl’s mother raised her as her own, the court heard.
The abuse continued after the birth. Delves forced the girl into his car after pulling up alongside her while she was on her way to school, before abusing her in the vehicle. He only stopped raping her shortly before she turned 16, when her mother accused her of being in a relationship with him and hit her.
Reporting and retraction
The girl told her aunt about the abuse, who supported her when she reported it to police in the 1970s. However, the investigation was dropped after the girl’s mother persuaded her to say the allegations were not true, prosecuting Richard Sedgwick said.
In a statement read to the court, the woman said she has been left traumatised by the abuse, leading to her needing antidepressants, counselling, and having suicidal thoughts. She added: “Being raped isn’t just something that happens to you. It is something that never goes away.
“The whole thing has been a nightmare. I thought I would rather be dead than deal with this.
“I felt like I could have done so much more with my life if this didn’t happen to me.”
Conviction and sentencing
The woman reported the abuse to police again in 2023, which led to Delves being prosecuted. He initially denied the charges before pleading guilty during his trial.
Defending, Yogain Chandarana, said Delves is “very sorry for the wrong that he did in his younger days” and has “regretted” what he did for “his whole life”. The court heard Delves has two other adult children from a different relationship that started after the relationship with the mother of the girl he abused ended.
Delves was convicted of 11 counts of raping a child under 16 and was ordered to pay his victim £135,000 compensation. Sentencing, James Willan KQ, said Delves “came to occupy a position of trust” over his victim and played the role of her dad, adding: “However, in reality, you were grooming her: showing her affection like a father would, but betraying that trust by abusing her and persuading her that what you were doing was normal and that she had to keep it secret.”
