Dad jailed after being found in bed with long-lost daughter

A seven-year-old boy endured 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 whom 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 initially  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 duo for their most recent crime, Judge James Burbidge remarked: “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 revealed that Yates had previously concealed her relationship with Butler from her family, even following their initial convictions.

In 2008, Yates revealed she was dating a man named Andrew Bicknell, a pseudonym used to conceal her relationship with her father, the court was informed.

Authorities discovered romantic letters and cards exchanged between the two, along with explicit images and messages on their mobile phones and laptops.

In March 2010, Yates’ stepsister Natalie visited the couple’s flat and stumbled upon explicit photos of the pair on Yates’ phone.

Natalie captured the images on her own phone and presented them to her parents who recognised Andrew Bicknell as actually being Butler – Yates’ biological father and her mother’s former husband.

The duo were arrested at their Bordesley Green flat in September 2010.

The judge described Butler as a “manipulative individual”, whilst Yates was deemed “very vulnerable” with a history of unsuitable relationships.

In defence, Butler’s solicitor 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 explained her client felt remorseful for not being permitted to see her father during her upbringing and yearned for a relationship with him.