A MOTHER who encouraged her partner to rape her young daughters in front of her to benefit their ‘sexual education’ has been put behind bars for 10 years.

The 65-year-old urged her former lover to regularly abuse her three children - all under the age of 16 - over a seven-year period.

She bought and told her children to wear provocative ‘adult underwear’ before plying them with alcohol during the ordeals.

The Weston woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, then drove the girls to Bleadon where they were raped separately by her partner.

Bristol Crown Court was told the woman only allowed the man to abuse her daughters when she was present - as she derived a sexual thrill from the abuse.

Her sickening actions, which took place in the 1970s and 1980s, were only reported to police in 2010 when a victim heard the rapist had died.

Officers quizzed the mother and she fully admitted what she had done. She pleaded guilty to 25 charges of aiding and abetting the rape of her children at Bristol Crown Court this week.

Her Honour Judge Carol Hagen jailed the sobbing grandmother for 10 years, telling her she was ‘as culpable if not more’ than her former lover.

The judge said: “You have pleaded guilty to the most gravest of offences, which spanned seven years.

“It is impossible to imagine a more gross breach of trust. As a victim mentioned, there was never any question of having a parent to support or protect her.

“On the contrary. You permitted and encouraged the greatest abuse and the effect on these women is incalculable.

“It is, in any view, extreme. You were a woman who your daughters found it difficult to disagree with.

“You were as culpable, if not more culpable, than the perpetrator of the rapes.”

The grey-haired pensioner said ‘thank you’ as she was taken away to start her sentence.

Prosecutor James Ward said the offences finally came to light in December 2010, when one of the victims went to a pub and was told the man who had attacked her had died.

She reported the abuse to police, who questioned the mother and arrested her when she fully admitted her part in the rapes.

Mr Ward said the abuse had continued to affect the girls in later life.

He said: “This was the most gross breach of trust imaginable – her daughters should have been able to rely on their mother to safeguard them.

“Instead she helped her partner to subject them to regular and systematic rape.

“By pleading guilty she has at least spared them from giving evidence.

“This has been an extremely upsetting case for those who heard the evidence outlined by the prosecution and I hope the conclusion of this case brings some comfort to those most affected.”

Tabitha Macfarlane, mitigating, told the court the mother first fell pregnant aged 17 and later met her lover.

She told him she had become pregnant on having intercourse for the first time and had no sexual experience other than with the father of her children.

Miss Macfarlane said: “Her boyfriend said she had ruined her life and she should stop that happening again by giving the girls sexual experience.

“He said it happened in different cultures, where young women are given sexual experience by a trusted friend or a member of their family.

“He said it would do them good.

“She says now it is disgusting and she must be punished. She is very intelligent. She is a very nice woman.”

The court was told how the woman had led an unblemished life since the rapes and had even had her daughters to stay with her and looked after her grandchildren.