Aylesbury's Joseph McCann GUILTY of string of horrific rape attacks

Joseph McCann, who lived just yards from an Aylesbury school, has been found guilty of a string of horrific rapes.
Joseph McCannJoseph McCann
Joseph McCann

An Old Bailey jury today found the sex attacker guilty on all charges against him.

Joseph McCann, 34, lived at an address in Matthews Close, just yards from St Louis' School.

His victims were not from Aylesbury, but were aged from as young as 11 to 71.

McCann denied all of the charges.

The crimes took place over a ‘two week crime spree’ across England, which included: rape, kidnap and false imprisonment.

The Old Bailey heard that McCann told a victim he would never release her, as he raped her repeatedly, and that a 21 year-old woman was grabbed at knifepoint as she walked home from a Watford Nightclub on April 21.

The trial has also heard that another 25-year-old woman was abducted as she walked home in Walthamstow, East London just after midnight on April 26 when McCann told her to stop screaming or ‘he would stab her.’

He also threatened to 'chop up' the women if they misbehaved.

The brave woman told the court that she was raped a number of times in various locations across a nightmarish 14 hour period and subjected to acts of ‘shocking depravity and violence’.

Prosecutor John Price said McCann made the young woman ‘call her daddy’ and pretend she was a child.

He also said the witness reported that McCann parked the car near to a school, saying that he wanted to make her rape a child.

The court heard that while the 25 year old woman was still being held prisoner, McCann went on to abduct another 21-year-old woman from Edgware, North London with her sister.

The jury also saw video footage of the woman being accosted and ‘thrown’ into his car in broad daylight.

Prosecutor Price says the two women managed to escape after one of them hit McCann over the head with a vodka bottle, while a brave intervention from some construction workers prevented their re-capture.

McCann’s spree took place across the breadth of the United Kingdom, and in one instance recounted to the court that took place in Manchester – McCann worked his way into a home where he tied a woman’s son to her bed and raped her 17-year-old daughter and 11-year-old-son.

Following this McCann abducted and raped a 71-year-old-woman and also sexually assaulted a 13-year-old-girl before both managed to give him the slip at a service station on the M6 motorway.

After this McCann kidnapped a further two girls in Congleton, Cheshire when he was spotted by police. After a police chase, where McCann crashed and fled on foot, he stole a mountain bike and jumped into a taxi.

When police finally caught up with him, he fled into a field and was eventually arrested after climbing a tree.

McCann refused to appear in court throughout the trial.

He will be sentenced at a later date.

An NSPCC spokesperson said: “McCann is an exceptionally dangerous individual whose evil abuse and depraved attacks have inflicted unimaginable pain and suffering on a number of women and children.

“Sexual abuse can have devastating long-lasting effects and we hope all of McCann’s victims receive all the support they need to help them recover from these horrific experiences.”