Joseph McCann: Alleged serial rapist accused of attacking 11 victims in ‘shocking and depraved’ kidnapping spree

Defendant allegedly raped victims including 11-year-old boy and a 71-year-old woman

A man carried out “shocking and depraved” attacks on 11 women and children in a fortnight-long rampage, a court has heard.

Joseph McCann is accused of targeting victims aged between 11 to 71 across London, Hertfordshire and northwest England. The 34-year-old denies all 37 charges.

Prosecutor John Price QC told London's Old Bailey that his first victim, a 21-year-old woman, was snatched at knifepoint as she left a Watford nightclub in the early hours of 21 April.

She was forced into a Ford Mondeo, taken home and raped in her own bed, Mr Price said.

Four days later, Mr McCann allegedly struck again in Walthamstow, east London, he added.

Mr Price told jurors that he also kidnapped a 25-year-old woman as she walked home from work shortly after midnight on 25 April.

“He told her to stop screaming or he would stab her,” he said. “He dragged her to a nearby car, pushed her inside and drove off.”

The woman was raped “many times” over the next 14 hours and subjected to acts of “shocking depravity and violence”, he added.

“He hit her and threatened to smash a vodka bottle in her face," Mr Price said. “Very many sexual assaults upon her took place in various locations, in and out of the car.

"He made her call him ‘Daddy’ and say that she was a child.

“At one point the man parked the car near to a school, saying that he wanted to make her rape a child. He raped [the woman] at that location.”

Shortly after noon on the same day, Mr McCann is accused of abducting a 21-year-old woman in Edgware, north London, while the previous victim was still in his car.

Jurors were shown CCTV footage of the woman being bundled into a silver Ford S Max car while her younger sister, who had been with her, managed to flee.

The 21-year-old was raped and forced to engage in sex acts with the terrified 25-year-old victim during their ordeal, the court heard.

The Harrow native is charged with almost 40 different counts including rape, attempted kidnapping and inciting a child under 13 to engage in sexual activity (Metropolitan Police)

The pair managed to escape in Watford after the older woman hit Mr McCann over the head with a vodka bottle, jurors were told.

But the defendant allegedly resumed his spree in northwest England 10 days later.

In a 21-hour period on 5 May, he is accused of attacking three women, three young girls and a boy in the Manchester area.

Mr Price said Mr McCann conned his way into a mother’s home in Lancashire, tied her to a bed and raped her 17-year-old daughter and 11-year-old son.

Afterwards, he allegedly abducted a 71-year-old woman at a Morrison’s car park in Bury.

The woman had just loaded her shopping in the boot and was about to drive off when Mr McCann allegedly jumped into her car, punched her in the face and ordered her to drive.

He is accused of raping the pensioner and kidnapping and sexually assaulting a 13-year-old girl before both managed to escape at Knutsford service station on the M6.

The court heard that Mr McCann made off in the pensioner’s Fiat, which he used to snatch two 14-year-old girls in Congleton, Cheshire.

The defendant, of Harrow, is charged with 10 counts of false imprisonment, seven counts of rape, one count of rape of a child and two counts of causing or inciting a person to engage in sexual activity without consent.

He also stands accused of seven counts of kidnap, one count of attempted kidnap, three counts of causing or inciting a child under 13 to engage in sexual activity, three counts of assault by penetration, one count of sexual assault and two counts of committing a sexual offence with intent.

The trial, which is due to go on for six weeks, continues.