Freed by mistake ‘to rape 3 times’
Dangerous thug granted automatic release now at the centre of manhunt
A TATTOOED fugitive being hunted in connection with three rapes was mistakenly released from prison, the Government admitted last night.
The Ministry of Justice has launched an urgent review into why 34-year-old Joseph McCann was automatically let out in February.
By law, a decision on his release should have been made by the Parole Board because he was on a life-long licence for an aggravated burglary committed in 2007.
The terms of his licence meant he would have had to convince the panel he was not a threat to the public.
But he was wrongly treated as a ‘determinate sentence’ prisoner, with automatic release, and never appeared before the Parole Board.
Last night an investigation began into how the mistake had happened.
McCann is meanwhile being hunted in connection with the rapes of two women in London and another earlier attack in Watford.
He has a slight Irish accent and has the word ‘ Bobbie’ tattooed on his stomach. Police have described him as dangerous.
Two of the women, who were in their twenties, were abducted 12 hours apart on April 25 from separate streets in north London.
They were kept in the attacker’s car for hours last Thursday. Both women, one of whom was said to be pregnant, were raped before being driven to a guest house in Watford, where the suspect tried to book a room but left when none was available.
The women escaped following a struggle in which one of them hit him with a vodka bottle.
Hertfordshire Police have also confirmed that McCann was already being sought following the rape of a 21-year-old woman abducted in Watford the previous Sunday.
A Ministry of Justice source said it was unclear how he came to be automatically released, although it may be an IT blunder or a mistake by the prison.
McCann was jailed indefinitely in 2008, with a minimum of 30 months, for a burglary in Bedfordshire during which he threatened an 85-year-old man with a knife. He was released on licence in 2017 but had been recalled for breaching his parole terms.
Scotland Yard have now announced a reward of up to £20,000 for information leading to an arrest and prosecution for the rapes.
In the first incident, on April 21, a woman was forced into a blue Ford Mondeo at knifepoint and driven around for six hours, during which she was raped. The attack was reported to police the next day and
‘Extremely dangerous’
McCann was identified as a suspect. Then last Thursday a woman was abducted in Chingford, north- east London, at about 12.30am.
The second woman was snatched in Edgware, north London, about 12 hours later.
About an hour after that their attacker, leaving the women in the car, tried to book a room in the Phoenix Lodge guest house in Watford.
He told the manager he wanted a double room for two nights and signed the register.
Saad Sayah, 42, who occasionally works at the B&B, said: ‘He was asking how much it would be. He said “I’ve got two girls with me” and said he would be bringing them with him.’
The guest house offers rooms from as little as £35-per-night for a single and £45-per-night for a double.
When he returned to the car the pair managed to make a dramatic escape. Builders rushed to help when they heard their screams and the attacker fled.
Witnesses said one of the young women was bleeding from her hand and one of them was pregnant.
The bed and breakfast is just 200 yards from where they escaped on nearby Osborne Road.
One local resident said: I have lived here for years but will never leave my door unlocked. It is very upsetting to think it happened so close.’
Detective Chief Inspector Katherine Goodwin, from the Metropolitan Police’s homicide and major crime command, said: ‘We would ask anyone with information about McCann’s whereabouts to contact us immediately. McCann is considered extremely dangerous and a risk to the public and we ask people not to approach him.’
McCann has links to Watford, Aylesbury and Ipswich. Known to use false names, most recently Joel, he is muscular, 5ft 10in, with blue eyes, a bald head or shaved blond hair and a lightcoloured short beard. The Ministry of Justice declined to comment.