Daughters waive anonymity as stepfather jailed for eight years over 10-year abuse

A father who sexually abused his stepdaughters over a 10-year period has been jailed for eight years, with the final 18 months suspended.

Despite his horrendous crimes, John Joe Patterson’s wife Frances, who is also the girls’ mother, has stood by her paedophile husband.

Emma and Vanessa Witherow bravely waived their right to anonymity so that Patterson, aged 55, who ran a Christmas hamper delivery business in Co Tipperary, could be named in the media.