{"id":14598,"date":"2019-05-09T17:29:07","date_gmt":"2019-05-09T21:29:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/?p=14598"},"modified":"2019-05-09T17:29:07","modified_gmt":"2019-05-09T21:29:07","slug":"joseph-mccann-judge-visits-serial-rape-accused-in-jail","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/2019\/05\/09\/joseph-mccann-judge-visits-serial-rape-accused-in-jail\/","title":{"rendered":"Joseph McCann: Judge visits serial rape accused in jail"},"content":{"rendered":"

A man accused of 21 offences including eight rapes has been visited by a judge in prison after refusing to appear in court.<\/p>\n

Joseph McCann, of Aylesbury, is charged with the kidnap and rape of eight alleged victims aged between 11 and 71.<\/p>\n

The offences are alleged to have been committed between 20 April and 5 May, in London, Watford, Cheshire, Manchester and Lancashire.<\/p>\n

Mr McCann was arrested in Congleton in Cheshire following a police manhunt.<\/p>\n

The 34-year-old is accused of eight rapes, four kidnappings, two charges of false imprisonment and one of actual bodily harm, as well as six other sexual offences.<\/p>\n

Nine of the charges relate to offences allegedly committed on the same day.<\/p>\n

Mr McCann had refused to leave his cell at Belmarsh prison in south London to attend Westminster Magistrates’ Court.<\/p>\n

Chief magistrate Emma Arbuthnot said a hearing would instead be held in the visitors’ room at Belmarsh.<\/p>\n

‘Unprecedented’<\/h2>\n

Journalists at the jail were not allowed into the hearing but were given details afterwards.<\/p>\n

Ms Arbuthnot said Mr McCann “turned his back on the court to begin with” and he did not sit or give his name.<\/p>\n

He is said to have health issues which are being investigated.<\/p>\n

The BBC’s home affairs correspondent, June Kelly, said it was “believed to be an unprecedented first appearance by a defendant in a criminal case”.<\/p>\n

Earlier, prosecutor Tetteh Turkson told Westminster Magistrates’ Court Mr McCann was “not being co-operative”.<\/p>\n

He was also brought to court on Wednesday but refused to appear in the dock.<\/p>\n

In one alleged incident, Mr McCann is said by police to have tied a woman up and committed sexual offences, including rape, against her 17-year-old daughter and son, 11.<\/p>\n

He was arrested just over two weeks after he allegedly abducted a woman in her 20s in Watford before raping her.<\/p>\n

Two other women in their 20s were also allegedly snatched off the street in Chingford and Edgware on 25 April and then raped.<\/p>\n

Mr McCann is due to appear at the Old Bailey on 23 May.<\/p>\n

Joseph McCann is accused of 21 offences:<\/h2>\n