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Appeal Court Increases Sentences For Prolific Rapists
At least a third more prison time for these two offenders.
Who is Joseph McCann?
Joseph McCann had convictions stretching back nearly 20 years when the then 34-year-old began his ‘spree’ campaign of cocaine-and-vodka-fuelled rapes in 2019.
His previous convictions, which had resulted in prison time, included violent offending as well as a property crime such as burglary. The Courts had not convicted McCann of any sexual offences. Critically, however, the Probation Service and Prison Officers failed properly to share or act on information that should have warned of his propensity to commit such crimes.
Personnel changes, inexperienced probation staff, weak management and poor handoffs, with other mistakes, allowed this man largely to disappear after his early release from prison. He began a ‘spree’ of offences including eight rapes, sometimes of children, as well as threatening victims with extreme violence. He had been released from prison only in February 2019 and was committing these offences in April and May of the same year. A jury found McCann guilty of 37 charges relating to 11 victims, including kidnap and false imprisonment as well as the rapes.
