A BRADFORD man who committed incest by fathering three children by his own daughter has died in prison just 48 days after being jailed for four and a half years.

Ashraf Khan died on Sunday after undergoing surgery.

A Prison Service spokesperson said: “HMP Leeds prisoner Ashraf Khan died in the prison healthcare unit on 9 September 2018. As with all deaths in custody there will be an independent investigation by the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman.”

A spokesperson for his family said they did not have the words for a statement but that "God would also punish him for what he has done".

Khan, 81, of Kirkburn Place, Lidget Green, Bradford, was jailed on July 24 at Bradford Crown Court after pleading guilty to three counts of incest just over a month ahead of a proposed trial.

His barrister, Nigel Jamieson, said his client suffered from poor health, but accepted that a prison sentence would not be unjust.

The court heard that Khan’s secret was only discovered after his daughter confessed on her deathbed in the early 1990s. The defendant was arrested after the woman’s husband, who had DNA tests done to confirm the children’s parentage, finally reported the matter to West Yorkshire Police in 2012. At that point, Khan was back in Pakistan, and did not return to the UK until 2016.

When he was interviewed in September of that year, the court heard he “denied having any sexual relations with his daughter”.

Miss Langford said that a medical report concerning the three children had found various ailments said to be “directly attributed to their incestual parentage”, including an inability to feel certain kinds of pain, resulting in injuries such as burns during their childhoods.

In a joint victim impact statement, the children said Khan’s offending had caused psychological damage and had impacted on their physical health.

The Recorder of Bradford, Judge Jonathan Durham Hall QC, told Khan: “You are a very dishonourable and wicked gentleman, we all now see.

“Those who do this will be regarded as very serious offenders, but in this case, the harm is off the scale. You are of good character, but that is a shallow comment, because you have got away with this for years.”

Judge Durham Hall said the guidelines for an offence of incest gave a maximum sentence of two years, but added that the 18-month sentences for each of the three counts would run consecutively, giving a total prison term of 54 months.

Speaking after the case, one of the woman's three children said: "We would like this case to bring awareness of incest being committed, and for other people who may have experienced something similar to come forward so that other offenders who have committed similar crimes can be tried through the courts."