‘Serial rapist’ accused of attacks on women and children
AN ALLEGED serial rapist carried out a string of “shocking and depraved” attacks on women and children, a court has heard.
Over three separate days, Joseph McCann, 34, allegedly abducted, raped and held prisoner a string of victims aged 11 to 71 across London, Hertfordshire and the North West.
The defendant was not in the dock of the Old Bailey as prosecutor John Price QC outlined details of 37 charges against him relating to 11 victims.
McCann snatched his first victim at knifepoint after she left Pryzm nightclub in Watford, Hertfordshire, jurors were told.
The 21-year-old was forced into a Ford Mondeo in the early hours of April 21, taken home and raped in her own bed, Mr Price said.
Just after midnight on April 25, McCann allegedly struck in Walthamstow, east London, kidnapping a 25-year-old woman as she walked home from work.
Mr Price told jurors: “He told her to stop screaming or he would stab her.
“He dragged her to a nearby car, pushed her inside and drove off.”
The prosecutor said the woman was raped “many times” over the next 14 hours and subjected to acts of “shocking depravity and violence”.
Mr Price went on: “He hit her and threatened to smash a vodka bottle in her face.
“Very many sexual assaults upon her took place in various locations, in and out of the car.
“He made her call him ‘daddy’ and say that she was a child.”
Just after midday on the same day, McCann allegedly abducted a 21-year-old woman in Edgware, north London, while still holding the 25-year-old prisoner.
Jurors were shown CCTV footage of the woman being bundled into a silver Ford S Max car while her younger sister, who had been with her, got away.
The pair managed to escape in Watford after the older woman hit McCann over the head with a vodka bottle, jurors heard.
McCann allegedly continued his crime spree in the North West 10 days later.
McCann, of Harrow, north west London, is charged with a range of offences including 10 counts of false imprisonment, seven counts of rape, one count of rape of a child, two counts of causing or inciting a person to engage in sexual activity without consent, seven counts of kidnap, one count of attempted kidnap and three counts of causing or inciting a child under 13 to engage in sexual activity.
The trial continues.