A man invited his best friend to stay at his house where he raped his seven-year-old daughter.

Christopher Packham set up a webcam in his lounge to check his friend was asleep before carrying the little girl to his bedroom.

Packham, 36, of South Coast Road, Peacehaven, has been jailed for ten years after being found guilty of rape and seven charges of indecent assault over a 12-month period.

His young victim's family sat through the four-day trial at Lewes Crown Court, where Packham accused their daughter of lying.

Today, her mother said she was pleased with the sentence but added: "Fifty years would not be enough for what he has done. We will never get over this."

Packham arranged for father and daughter to sleep in his lounge, where he had set up the webcam. The young girl was told not to breathe a word about the attacks to her family.

Her ordeal only came to light in November last year while she was chatting to her mum about an argument with her friend at school.

Her mother told The Argus: "I told her it was not the end of the world and said she should be looking forward to going to stay with Chris at the weekend.

"She had never said anything about him before but she replied she did not like the way he looked at her. Then it all came out."

The distraught mother immediately rang her husband, who rushed home from work.

The two parents broke down in tears as their little girl told them what had happened.

"There is simply not any word I can think of that can describe how I felt at that time. It was like the end of the world.

"My husband wanted to kill him. I had to beg and plead for him to let the police deal with it.

"We were just a normal family. I would not wish what has happened to us on my worst enemy."

Packham, who worked for a printing firm, denied all of the charges apart from one offence of taking indecent photographs of a child.

Police searched his home and discovered a video tape he had made of pictures recorded on the webcam.

The girl's mother said: "When the jury returned its verdict it was such a relief. We were all in the back of the court holding hands and just sobbing.

"Throughout the trial he showed no remorse. People have said paedophiles don't believe they have done anything wrong and that is how he has behaved."

She and her husband are both still struggling to cope with feelings of guilt about what happened to their daughter.

She said: "I felt we did have a good relationship but she never said anything. I realise now there are all sorts of reasons why she did not tell us earlier.

"The abuse went on for about a year. My husband felt he had let her down. He felt like he was a bad father by not picking up any signs.

"It is only afterwards you can look back and see how crafty Chris was.

"We felt we had done everything we could to protect her. We had warned her about the danger from strangers but this was a friend of the family."

She praised her daughter's bravery and courage in coping with the interviews with the police and the ordeal of a medical examination.

She said: "I have been so proud of her. She still does not understand what he did was so serious. She understands he has gone to prison and when I told her she said, 'I will be 19 when he comes out'."

She is optimistic her daughter, who is now having counselling, will be able to cope.

She said: "They say life goes on. It is going to be hard but we will try to forget, although the memories will never go away. We are going to make sure the rest of her childhood is filled with happiness."

The little girl has left a sign that bodes well for her future well-being.

In the box marking the day Packham was sent to jail she wrote on the family calendar: "It's all over and done with."

And then she drew a smiley face.