Questions raised over child abuse safeguards

By Kate Kelland

LONDON (Reuters) - Prime Minister Gordon Brown promised to examine the system for protecting children on Wednesday after a man was jailed for the repeated rape of his two daughters during more than two decades of abuse.

The case, which sparked comparisons with Josef Fritzl, the Austrian who imprisoned and raped his daughter for 24 years, has alarmed the nation. It comes barely two weeks after a mother and two men were found guilty of causing the death of the woman's 17-month-old boy following horrific abuse.

A court in Sheffield heard that the 56-year-old father abused his daughters for 25 years and fathered nine children by them. He escaped the glare of the authorities by frequently moving his family.

He was jailed for life Tuesday.

Brown promised urgent investigations into what he called "unspeakable" abuse.

"People will rightly want to know how such abuse could go on for so long without the authorities, and the wider public services, discovering it and taking action," Brown said.

"If there is a change to be made in the system and the system has failed, then we will change the system," he told parliament.

The incest case, which is subject to strict reporting restrictions to protect the identity of his daughters, followed the conviction of a mother, her boyfriend and their lodger for causing the death of "Baby P."