The man, in his 50s and who cannot be named for legal reasons, was given 25 life sentences by a Sheffield court in 2008.

A serious case review has revealed that he began abusing his daughters in the 1980s when they were aged eight and ten. They conceived 18 times, giving birth to nine children, although only seven survived and two have severe physical disabilities.

The father moved his family almost 70 times in order to escape the authorities, with the daughters’ ordeal only ended when they eventually contacted police.

The case has drawn comparisons with that of Josef Fritzl in Austria, who fathered seven children with his daughter after imprisoning her in a secret room under their family home.

Sue Fiennes, independent chair of Sheffield safeguarding children board, admitted that social workers from Lincolnshire and South Yorkshire had made a succession of mistakes allowing the abuse to continue.

The family had contact with 28 different agencies and more than 100 police officers, doctors, nurses and social workers.

"We want to apologise to the family at the heart of this case," Ms Fiennes said.

"It will be clear that we failed the family.

"We are committed to work relentlessly to do all we can to minimise the risk of this happening again."

Chris Cook, independent chair of Lincolnshire safeguarding children board, told the family: "We are genuinely sorry. We should have protected you.

"We must remember that people’s lives were devastated both by a controlling, power-obsessed and deviant father and our failure to act."

Both Ms Fiennes and Mr Cook insisted that new safeguards had been put in place to prevent similar incidents from occurring again.

The England star, speaking after his former side United knocked Milan out of the Champions League, made an emotional return to the Theatre of Dreams and nearly scored with a spectacular volley after coming on as a second-half substitute.

But he could not prevent United winning 4-0 on the night and 7-2 on aggregate. He said: "It’s a disappointing night because we lost the game but coming back here is always special. I got an absolutely incredible reception from the United fans, and I have to say thank you."

Beckham did not comment on his gesture of donning a green and gold scarf - the colours adopted by supporters trying to oust owners the Glazer family - as soon as the match ended.

But he was happy to acknowledge that Wayne Rooney is one of the best players in the world now, stating that only a handful of current players such as Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo deserve to be mentioned in the same breath.

The "Doomsday" vault in Norway announced it is this week receiving thousands of new seeds that will push its collection to more than half a million unique samples, making it the most diverse assemblage of crop diversity ever collected anywhere in the world.

Among the seeds is a wild bean from South America that could be "critical for avoiding a crippling crop disease", a highly valuable strawberry species plucked by a collection team from the flanks of a volcano in Russia’s remote Kuril Islands, and a treasure trove of soybeans from the United States.

"Reaching the half million mark brings mixed emotions, because while it shows that the vault at Svalbard is now the gold standard for diversity, it comes at a time when our agriculture systems are really sitting on a knife’s edge," said Cary Fowler, executive director of the Global Crop Diversity Trust, which partners with the Norwegian government and the Nordic Genetic Resource Centre in Sweden in operating the vault.

Mr Fowler says that with the recent climate talks in Copenhagen ending in stalemate over measures to slow climate change, there must now be greater efforts to adapt crops to higher temperatures.

"If crops and agriculture don’t adapt to climate change, neither will humanity," Mr Fowler said.

"But to help farmers adapt, plant breeders need access to as much genetic diversity as possible to keep crops vigorous and productive in shifting climates."

Like all seeds coming to the vault, the samples are duplicates of seeds from other collections and are being sent to Svalbard for safekeeping, not for everyday use.

The coalition system of government employed in Israel means the interior ministry is controlled by the ultra-Orthodox nationalist Shas party, which this week drew condemnation for announcing the new building projects.

The news came during a visit to Israel by US vice president Joe Biden, with Israeli interior minister Eli Yishai telling national radio: "We had no intention, no desire, to offend or taunt an important man like the vice president during his visit."

But the immediate repercussion was for Mr Abbas to pull out of indirect, or proximity, talks with Israel. He told Arab League secretary-general Amr Moussa of the development last night.

"The Palestinian president decided he will not enter into those negotiations now… the Palestinian side is not ready to negotiate under the present circumstances," Mr Moussa relayed to journalists in Cairo, Egypt, last night.

"The talks have already stopped."

As Mr Biden arrived on Monday Israel said it had approved the construction of 112 new apartments in the West Bank settlement of Beitar Illit, with the United Nations secretary general saying in a statement that the settlements were illegal.

Later on Tuesday the interior ministry said it would be building 1,600 housing units in Ramat Shlomo, a Jewish settlement in an area of the West Bank annexed by Israel.

About half a million Jews, including the Israeli foreign minister, live in 100 settlements built since the 1967 occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem, all of which are considered illegal under international law.

The peace process has been stalled for almost 18 months, but recently the Palestinians agreed to "proximity" talks with Israel, suspending a demand Israel freeze settlement-building immediately.

Speaking after talks with Mr Abbas, Mr Biden repeated his strong criticism of the Israeli move.

"The Palestinians and the Israelis had just agreed to begin proximity talks, hopefully leading to an agreement, a final agreement," he said.

"This is a time when we should be building trust because I am absolutely convinced there’s a desire on the part of the parties to move forward. They know the status quo is helpful to neither of them.

"Everyone knows the Palestinians deserve an independent state, the Israelis deserve an independent and secure state and for those kinds of actions to occur when there’s more agreement than disagreement is just destabilising."

The Glasgow-born filmmaker will begin shooting the whodunit later this year in Europe, with Beau Flynn and Tripp Vinson producing, according to Variety.

Written by Zodiac scribe James Vanderbilt - who also penned the forthcoming Spider-Man reboot - Murder Mystery tells of an American couple honeymooning in Europe who become "embroiled in international intrigue" after witnessing a murder.

Independent production house Tower Hill acquired the rights to the crime thriller after initial developers put the brakes on the project.

AJ Dix, Tower Hill’s president of production, described Murder Mystery as "pure entertainment".

"It’s exciting, suspenseful and romantic," he added.

Macdonald’s latest feature, historical drama The Eagle of the Ninth, is due for release in the US on September 24th.

Turkish forward Tuncay Sanli put the Potters ahead in the first-half from an ubiquitous Rory Delap long-throw, with David Nugent equalising in the second-half for a 1-1 draw.

Tuncay opened the scoring on 23 minutes when he rose highest to head home a trademark Delap delivery from beyond the touchline.

But Brian Laws’ side fought their way back into a scrappy encounter and were rewarded when on-loan Portsmouth striker Nugent followed up his goal at the Emirates at the weekend in a 3-1 defeat to Arsenal with a crucial strike.

The one-time England man out-jumped Robert Huth and headed home a Martin Paterson cross that, despite the home side’s best efforts, proved to be the last goal of the game.

The points sees the Clarets go above Hull City on goal difference to 18th with both sides on 24 points, although the Tigers have played 28 games - one less than Burnley.

Wolves are one place above the relegation places on 24 points, with West Ham on 27.

Tony Pulis’ Stoke meanwhile remain in the lofty heights of 11th.

The market was at a standstill at 5,640.53, with Smith and Nephew leading the blue-chip falls on Thursday morning.

Following an investor day Thomas Cook Group saw its shares rise by three per cent, while shares in Home Retail, which owns Homebase, rose by 1.83 per cent after its annual profits beat forecasts.

Terry Duddy, chief executive of Home Retail Group, said following the firm’s results: "This is a good outcome to a challenging year, and is combined with excellent cash generation.

"For the new financial year, we continue to plan cautiously given the uncertain economic outlook, but do so from our position of operational and financial strength."

Despite reporting good profits in 2009 this morning, UK supermarket chain Morrison WM Supermarkets saw shares shed 1.68 per cent.

Madrid knew they would have their work cut out, having lost the first leg 1-0. Cristiano Ronaldo levelled the aggregate score in the fifth minute when his low shot nutmegged Lyon keeper Hugo Lloris – the Portuguese star’s eighth Champions League goal this season.

Madrid could have taken the lead after 27 minutes but Gonzalo Higuain, having rounded Lloris, shot against the post to gasps of disbelief.

Higuain repaid his manager’s decision not to substitute him by forcing a fine save from Lloris minutes later.

Lyon looked the better of the two teams in the second half and justice was done when Miralem Pjanic scored with a powerful shot 15 minutes from the end, consigning big-spending Madrid to yet another early Champions League exit.

Park Ji-sung and Darren Fletcher also got on the score-sheet with Beckham coming on to the pitch for a 26-minute cameo at the ground where he enjoyed the best football of his career.

United dominated early possession with the closely-marked Wayne Rooney and the completely-unmarked Gary Neville both in the mood to shoot on sight.

Milan did not get a look-in until the seventh minute when Ronaldinho’s silky headband made contact with a cross with such force that Edwin van der Sar had no time to react as the ball flashed past his post.

Moments later Klaas Jan Huntelaar’s lack of control denied him a shooting chance on the corner of the six-yard box, allowing a relieved Van der Saar to pick up possession.

But United’s rhythm could only be broken temporarily and when the impressive Neville crossed from the right it was Rooney who headed the ball down and into the net from near the penalty spot – the England talisman’s 29th goal of this World Cup season.

Milan were still getting into the opposition’s penalty area but were finding Rio Ferdinand was in no mood to let them claw back the three-goal aggregate deficit. Considering Van der Saar’s shaky form – spilling the ball near Pirlo’s feet on one occasion – this was just as well.

Ronaldinho was Milan’s star player in the first half but with the buck-toothed players’ colleagues showing little bite or bark, United remained largely untroubled.

Too much time and space was being given to red-shirted players like Fletcher, who nearly took advantage when his shot from distance thudded into the advertising hoardings just before half-time.

One minute into the second half the "killer goal" which United manager Sir Alex Ferguson was looking for arrived. Nani was the provider, bursting down the left wing and hitting a sweet pass with the outside of his boot which Rooney clipped into the net as Milan keeper Christian Abbiati dived at his feet in an ‘I’m not worthy pose’.

After 59 minutes it was 3-0 (and 6-2 on aggregate) when Paul Scholes - lucky to be on the field after a wild first-half tackle missed the leg of Mathieu Flamini - rolled the ball to Park who stumbled and then scored inside the six-yard box.

Beckham finally came on the pitch in the 64th minute to applause which was as loud as that greeting the performance of Rooney who was substituted two minutes later.

The former England captain nearly scored in the 74th minute with a brilliant volley from outside the penalty area which Van der Saar parried more through luck than judgment.

Beckham’s superb crosses were one of the highlights of the closing stages but in the 87th minute Darren Fletcher stooped to head the fourth goal from a right-wing cross.

The final word of the evening? Not quite - Beckham wrapped himself in a green and gold scarf of the Manchester United Supporters Trust/Red Knights to make a PR statement which almost overshadowed United’s brilliant performance.

Mr Brown, a fanatical fan of his boyhood club Raith Rovers, had wanted to go on the BBC2 show to discuss England’s 2018 and 2022 World Cup bids, with a request first put in late last year.

But the BBC, which is bound by strict impartiality rules, ruled that with the election expected in May it would be inappropriate to allow the prime minister to appear.

"We made the judgment it wouldn’t be appropriate in the run-up to the election," a spokesman said.

In recent months Downing St has made more of an effort to branch out into non-news media, with the prime minister talking about the death of his baby daughter Jennifer in a one-on-one Piers Morgan interview last month.

He would not have been the first prime minister to appear on a BBC football show either, with Tony Blair taking his spot on the Football Focus sofa in 2005.

But the BBC said that Football Focus was more of a magazine programme and that non-football guests rarely appeared on Match of the Day 2, broadcast on Sunday nights.