Hero cabbie blasts judge for not giving Britain’s worst rapist whole life jail term
A JUDGE was blasted last night for failing to give Britain’s worst rapist a whole life jail term.
Mr Justice Edis branded Joseph McCann, 34, a “classic psychopath” after he was found guilty of 37 charges of rape, sex assault and kidnap on victims aged 11 to 71.
The judge had earlier admitted McCann had “never expressed a word of regret” for raping seven victims, including a boy of just 11.
But the monster, who had previously been released early after a probation blunder, was given 33 life terms with a minimum of just 30 years in jail — meaning he could still walk free one day.
Cab driver Iftab Hussain, 31, who helped cops catch the beast, was among those who criticised the sentence.
The dad of three drove McCann to a police roadblock on purpose after picking him up after he had crashed a car with two kidnapped teens in the back and fled cops.
Mr Hussain said: “How is that justice? In 30 years, he will get a second chance at life. What of his victims? He should spend the rest of his natural life behind bars.
"What he did was monstrous. There is no place for him or people like him in our society."
Legal commentator The Secret Barrister described McCann as “fortunate”, adding: “It is difficult to contemplate a more serious case of this type.”
McCann, of Aylesbury, Bucks, cowered in his cell yesterday after refusing to turn up to his sentencing at London’s Old Bailey.
Timeline of terror
April 21 — Watford, Hertfordshire
4am: 21-year-old woman abducted outside Pryzm nightclub, driven to her home and raped in her own bed.
April 25 — Walthamstow, London
12.30am: A woman aged 25 is abducted while walking home from the Tube and subjected to 14-hour ordeal.
April 25 — Edgware, London
12.15pm: A 21-year-old woman is abducted but her sister, 18, escapes. The 21-year-old and 25-year-old earlier victim manage to escape in Watford.
May 5 — Haslingden, Lancashire
Early hours: A mother is tied up in her own home while her daughter, 17, and son, 11, are raped and sexually assaulted in the room next door.
May 5 — Ramsbottom, Greater Manchester
1.30pm: A 71-year-old woman loading her car with shopping at Morrisons is abducted and raped. She is still in the car when McCann strikes again.
May 5 — Heywood, Greater Manchester
3.30pm: A 13-year-old girl is kidnapped and sexually assaulted. She and the 71-year-old woman escape at Knutsford services shortly before 6pm.
May 5 — Congleton, Cheshire
6.30pm: Two 14-year-old girls are abducted in the Fiat Punto stolen from the 71-year-old woman.
Mr Justice Edis called him a “coward, bully and paedophile” with a “tenuous grip on reality”.
But he said it was “perhaps just conceivable” a safe release would be possible in 30 years.
The Centre for Crime Prevention called the decision “simply astonishing”.
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