THE terrible knowledge that she introduced her own daughters to the man who sexually abused them still haunts the mother of Andrew Harvey’s victims.

Sobbing tears of relief, following Harvey’s conviction, the Bournemouth woman said: “I blame myself for the terrible things he put my daughters through and torture myself every day.

“If it hadn’t been for me he would never have been able to prey on them or betray our trust.”

She added: “We met in the wrong circumstances. I’d been suffering from depression and was very vulnerable.

“I read about the chat line and thought I’d give it a go. I will never forgive myself for not realising he was not the wonderful person he portrayed himself to be. It was all lies.

“As I’ve discovered, to my whole family’s cost, it is one way paedophiles can prey on children.

“We are all Harvey’s victims and I want to warn other women of the dangers of using chat lines.”

After almost ten hours of deliberations at Bournemouth Crown Court, jurors yesterday found 45-year-old Harvey from St Peter’s Park, Aldershot, guilty of raping her eldest daughter.

He was also convicted of indecently assaulting both girls, indecency with a child and sexual assault but acquitted of a second rape charge, attempted rape and four sexual assaults.

Harvey showed no emotion as the guilty verdicts were read out while his victims’ families struggled to contain their pent-up feelings.

Remanding Harvey in custody, until pre-sentence reports are prepared, Judge Christoper Harvey Clark QC told him: “I regard these matters as sufficiently serious to warrant a substantial custodial sentence. There must be an assessment of dangerousness in this case.”

After the verdicts, his victims’ mother, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, said: “It was him or me. It may sound dramatic but if he hadn’t been convicted I would have taken my own life.”

She recalled how Harvey had befriended her by chance, adding: “I was reluctant to meet him and kept putting him off but he was very persistent.

“We met up after about five weeks and he started driving down from Aldershot to stay with us.

“He bombarded us all with presents. We are not a materialistic family and I should have seen through it.”

She was horrified when her daughters finally confided in her. “They were frightened to tell me what had been going on because he told them I would commit suicide if I found out.

“When my eldest daughter phoned to say they had to speak to me about something Andrew had done to them I instantly knew what she was referring to.

“Giving evidence in court and hearing from other members of my family what he told the jury, to try and cover his tracks, was horrific.

“My eldest daughter was diagnosed with severe post traumatic stress and has received the same treatment as soldiers are who come back from war zones.

“She refused to sleep in her own bed for years and was terrified of everything.

“She is a beautiful girl but terribly insecure, insisting on wearing dark clothes and covering herself up. I couldn’t understand why until the truth came out. Then everything made sense.

“We’ve had counselling and need closure. Hopefully now Harvey has been brought to justice it will start the healing process for all of us.”