A DAD who took his teenage daughter for a virginity test after discovering her secret boyfriend claims he wanted to check she had not been raped, a court has heard.

Today dad Ali Safaraei, 56, broke down in tears as he told Kingston Crown Court the case had "destroyed" his family.

He said he tried to keep his 18-year-old daughter Sophia Safaraei, 18, "away from any danger and bad friends and social media" but "unfortunately failed".

It is alleged he and his wife Mitra Eidiani, 42, tried to control Sophia and threatened to kill her boyfriend Bailey Marshall-Telfer, 18, after discovering the relationship.

He said he arrived home after his wife told him a "stranger" had been in the Clapham family home, but had fled.

Talking about Sophia, his defence barrister Parveen Mansoor asked him: "You thought she might have been raped?"

Safaraei said: "Because of her reaction that's right. To myself I was thinking maybe she has been raped.

"I told her I'm going to the police and she said, 'No, if you're going to police, I"m going to put both of you in prison.'"

Speaking through an interpreter, he denied he forced his daughter to go for a "virginity test."

The Iranian father, who has lived in the UK for more than 30 years and said he was not a Muslim, said: "I just said check.

"I didn't mention the virginity. The officer mentioned it, it's not my words, he put it in my mouth, I just mention a check.

"A check - body harm, rapes - anything is damaging her.

"She said 'nothing happened,' she said 'I can prove it' then she changed her mind.

"She was happy, she was okay."

He added his wife booked an appointment with Dr Helen Lucas that night but at the appointment Sophia refused to be examined.

Yesterday jurors heard he told Lucas he was going to report a "theft" to police after she refused to carry out the test.

Asked how he felt, he said: "I don't know, because that's the first time she is changing her mind.

"When I asked the GP 'why you are not checking' she said 'because she's 18, I can't force her for check' and I said 'okay, I'm going to the police to get the help from the police."

Asked what "theft" he referred to, he said: "Cash, money and gold coin."

The court heard he told officers £500 and an Iranian gold coin worth around £200 had gone missing from a drawer in his sitting room.

He denied threatening his daughter with a kitchen knife or calling her a "prostitute".

He also denied "controlling" his daughter by taking away her bank card, passport, driving licence and mobile phone before he was arrested shortly, after returning home from reporting the theft and that his daughter was missing.

Asked how the case had affected him, he broke down in tears, saying: "It destroyed my family."

"I think I tried to be honest with my daughter and I tried to be helpful for her and I tried to keep her away from any danger and bad friends and social media but unfortunately I failed."

Safaraei and Eidiani deny two counts of controlling or coercive behaviour and one count of making a threat to kill.

Eidiani also denies one count of assault occasioning actual bodily harm.

Eidiani pleaded guilty to one count of criminal damage, related to a pair of headphones, at an earlier hearing.

The trial continues.