Appeal bid to keep world’s worst rapist in jail for life

APPEAL judges will be asked to increase the jail term handed to the world’s worst rapist.

Reynhard Sinaga, 36, is believed to have drugged and raped more than 200 young men whom he lured back to his flat in central Manchester after they became separated from friends on nights out.

Now Sinaga could have his 30-year minimum jail term increased to a ‘whole-life’ tariff after prosecutors complained the sentence was too lenient.

Whole-life tariffs – which mean the criminal will die behind bars – are normally reserved for the most serious cases of murder. Extending such a term to Sinaga would be a legal first.

Attorney General Hon Geoffrey Cox yesterday referred the sentence to the Court of Appeal. ‘After carefully considering the details of this case, I have decided to refer the sentence,’ Mr Cox said. ‘Sinaga carried out an egregious number of attacks, over a prolonged period of time causing substantial pain and psychological suffering to his victims. It is now for the court to decide whether to increase the sentence.’

Sinaga, pictured, offered his victims drinks, a place to charge their phone or somewhere to sleep – but then used the date-rape drug GHB to incapacitate them before violating them while filming his attacks.

The Indonesian PhD student was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 30 years after being found guilty of 159 charges, including 136 rapes against 48 specimen victims.

Earlier this week the Crown Prosecution Service said it had written to the Attorney General, asking him to back a review of the sentence.

Sinaga was convicted after four separate trials over 18 months, the last of which finished in December.

Police found footage of attacks on 195 separate men on Sinaga’s electronic devices, but he is believed to have attacked more victims.

Sentencing Sinaga at Manchester Crown Court on Monday last week, Judge Suzanne Goddard QC said the case was ‘borderline’ in terms of whether it merited a whole-life term.

The case will be heard by the Court of Appeal at a later date.