Court convenes behind bars after rape suspect won’t leave cell

Joseph Mccann, charged with 21 offences against eight alleged victims, faces magistrate at Belmarsh

A SENIOR judge transferred a court hearing to a prison in an unprecedented move after a defendant charged with multiple kidnaps and rapes refused to leave his cell.

Emma Arbuthnot, chief magistrate at Westminster magistrates’ court, said that she would take a taxi to Belmarsh prison after Joseph Mccann declined to appear for a second consecutive day.

All present, including court staff, police and lawyers, went to the high security jail, where proceedings were conducted under the court’s royal crest, which was taken there in an Argos carrier bag.

Ms Arbuthnot spent 80 minutes with Mr Mccann in the prison’s healthcare wing. Mr Mccann, 34, from Aylesbury, Bucks, is charged with 21 offences against eight alleged victims aged between 11 and 71, across five police force areas over a two-week period between April 21 and May 5.

When he refused to appear before a court on Wednesday, Ms Arbuthnot authorised the use of force to bring him before her.

But when she was informed yesterday that he was “not being cooperative”, she broke with convention by declaring the hearing would reconvene at the jail 15 miles away.

“We will have a hearing in there, which will be a private hearing, not in the presence of the press,” she said. After the hearing in the healthcare wing, she returned to a conference room on site to provide an update.

“It is clear the defendant has some healthcare issues and these will be addressed in the coming days,” she said.

“Mr Mccann did not give his name, he did not stand up and he turned his back to the court.”

The makeshift court heard that Mr Mccann’s “mode of operation” had been to kidnap his victims, three of whom were under 18, to sexually abuse them. In one alleged incident, he is said to have bound a woman in her own home and committed sex offences, including rape, on her daughter, 17, and son, 11.

Tetteh Turkson, prosecuting, said: “One victim was forced into a vehicle. He held her captive for something like 13 hours and she was raped many times. While she was in the car a further person was grabbed and she also was sexually abused.”

He alleged that Mr Mccann had “latched on to someone” in a bar then went to her home address after her male companion had left.

“He tied her up and then subjected her 17-year-old daughter and 11-yearold son to various sexual offences, including rape,” he said. “Later that same day he abducted and kidnapped a 71-year-old woman, forced her into the passenger seat of her own vehicle and he drove her around. He raped her and later enticed others into the car, including a 13-year-old girl.”

Mr Mccann was arrested after a stand-off with police in Congleton, Cheshire, early on Monday, more than two weeks after his first alleged attack.

He was remanded in custody until a hearing at the Old Bailey on May 23.

Legally, a defendant charged with an indictable offence has to be present at a preliminary hearing before a case can be sent to trial.

A judge or a magistrate can convene a court in any room as long as the royal coat of arms is on display. This is believed to have been the first time this type of hearing has been convened inside a prison.

‘Mr Mccann did not give his name, he did not stand up and he turned his back to the court’