Joseph McCann: Alleged serial rapist warned trial can happen without him after refusing to leave cell

Man charged with 21 crimes against eight victims as young as 11 years old

Joseph McCann refused to leave his cell (Metropolitan Police)

A judge has warned an alleged serial rapist that his trial could go ahead without him, after he refused to leave his cell.

Joseph McCann did not appear at a plea hearing at the Old Bailey on Thursday.

The 34-year-old was due to attend via a video feed from HMP Belmarsh, but a dock officer told the court he had refused to leave his cell.

Mr McCann is charged with 21 offences against eight alleged victims, aged between 11 and 71, across five police force areas over a two-week period between 21 April and 5 May.

Mr Justice Edis said that, unlike in the magistrates' court, his presence was not required for the hearing to go ahead.

The judge said the defendant should be informed that if he chose not to attend his trial, it would happen in his absence.

Mr McCann’s trial was scheduled to start on 11 November at the Old Bailey, with another plea hearing on 26 July.

He is charged with eight counts of rape, four counts of kidnap, two counts of false imprisonment, two counts of sexual assault by penetration and two counts of engaging in non-penetrative sexual activity,

Mr McCann is also accused of one count of inciting a boy under the age of 13 to engage in sexual activity, one count of engaging in non-penetrative sexual activity with a girl aged 13 to 15, and one count of assault occasioning actual bodily harm.

During one alleged incident, Mr McCann is alleged to have tied a woman up in her own home and committed sexual offences against her 17-year-old daughter and 11-year-old son.

The defendant, from Aylesbury in Buckinghamshire, was arrested in Cheshire two weeks after he allegedly abducted a woman in her 20s in Watford before raping her in her home.

Two other women, who are in their 20s, were allegedly snatched off streets in Chingford and Edgware, London, on 25 April before being raped in a car.

A string of other alleged offences are said to have occurred in Lancashire and Greater Manchester on 5 May, including the rape of a 71-year-old woman and the sexual assault of a 13-year-old girl.

Additional reporting by PA