A father who told his teenage daughter he could “do what he wanted” to her when she turned 16 has been jailed for more than 15 years after subjecting her to a campaign of sexual abuse, with his partner also imprisoned for her role in the sickening offending.
Matthew Ward, 37, was sentenced to 15 years and four months at Derby Crown Court, while his accomplice Sophie Eason, 30, was jailed for two years and eight months. Both were handed indefinite Sexual Harm Prevention Orders, lifetime restraining orders and placed on the sex offenders register indefinitely.
His daughter Demi Howes, now 18, has waived her right to anonymity to see both of them put behind bars. Demi had tracked Ward down on social media through Eason when she was 15, desperate to escape a chaotic home life and hoping to find safety and stability with her biological father. Instead, Ward began flirting with and sexualising his own daughter almost immediately, kissing her in her bedroom when she was just 15. Shortly after her 16th birthday, he made his chilling declaration that he was now free to do as he pleased, and the abuse began. Eason soon actively joined in.
The abuse was only discovered by chance when police seized Ward’s phone during an unrelated incident. Detectives found messages in which he was attempting to arrange a sexual encounter involving himself, his daughter and another woman. Forensic analysis of the device also implicated Eason in the ongoing abuse. Both were arrested in March 2025 and initially denied the allegations before changing their pleas to guilty on the first day of their trial last September. Ward admitted eight counts of adult sexual activity with a child family member alongside offences relating to making and distributing indecent images of a child. Eason admitted four counts of adult sexual activity with a child family member.
In a harrowing victim personal statement read to the court, Demi described how she had been manipulated into believing the abuse was normal. “I was excited to meet my father and thought that I might have finally found somewhere I could be safe and belong,” she said. “I thought I might have a chance at a family and being able to be a normal teenager. It’s sick to think about, my own dad having sex with me and the woman I called mum joining in.” She also revealed that some members of her own family had turned against her in the aftermath. “I think it’s easier to blame me sometimes than admit what the defendants actually are,” she said. Demi told the court she continues to suffer from severe PTSD and night terrors, and concluded her statement with a direct message to the pair: “Neither of you should be allowed near children because you are dangerous paedophiles.”
Detective Constable Gabrielle Rouse, the officer in the case, paid tribute to Demi’s courage. “Demi is an extremely brave and tenacious young woman, who has fought for justice despite not having a secure support system around her,” she said. “The abuse inflicted on Demi by her own father and the woman she thought of as a mother is beyond harrowing. No child should have to go through what Demi has been through.”
If you have been affected by the issues raised in this article, support is available through the NSPCC helpline.
