Girl, 17, who saved her family by escaping the clutches of Joseph McCann after he raped her and her 11-year-old brother blasts probation service that left him free to attack
- Teenager and her brother were raped at their home in Lancashire in May 2019
- She revealed in a candid interview that she struggles with ‘bad anxiety’
- McCann was jailed for a minimum of 30 years in December following attacks
A 17-year-old girl who saved her family after being raped by Joseph McCann has said the probation service that freed him ‘failed’ to protect her and her family.
The teenager and her 11-year-old brother were raped at their home in Lancashire in May last year after McCann broke into the property and tied up their mother with hair straighteners.
He raped 11 women and children after he was released by south-east and eastern division probation services in January last year, despite warnings that he had the hallmarks of a sex offender.
McCann was handed 33 life sentences and imprisoned for a minimum of 30 years in December 2019.
The teenager saved her family after she escaped from Joseph McCann (pictured) out of a first-floor window and called for help. He attacked them at their Lancashire home in May last year
McCann was jailed for a minimum of 30 years in December 2019 after he was handed 33 life sentences for his attacks on 11 women and children
The teenager revealed in a candid interview that since the attack she has faced ‘bad anxiety’ and has been left ‘unable to sleep’.
‘Before any of this happened I had a lovely home, a close family and a really good job,’ she told BBC News.
‘After this I lost everything, including my family home of 12 years and my relationship with my family.
‘I struggle to sleep each night and live in fear. I can’t be in places on my own and my confidence has gone down since the incident.
‘My whole life will be controlled from what happened, living in constant fear of everything. I constantly feel like my life is in danger, I question situations during the day and feel nervous around people.
‘He has previous for sexual abuse and nothing was acted on.’
A car driven by McCann appears smashed on a roundabout. The teenage victim has also revealed how she is now suffering from ‘bad anxiety’
McCann at a Morrisons in Greater Manchester where he abducted a 71-year-old woman
During the attack, the 17-year-old managed to free her family after jumping out of a first-floor window, and she said being her ‘family’s hero’ helps her get out of bed every day.
She said: ‘Knowing I have my whole life to live and I got away from such a dangerous man shows I have courage and the fact I was able to keep my brother and mother safe is enough for me.’
Her criticisms came after a Government report found that the probation service south-east and eastern division ‘did not manage McCann effectively’.
The official review from the Ministry of Justice found that probation, police, and prison authorities were warned as early as 2011 that he had the hallmarks of a sex offender.
Two weeks of terror: How McCann drove around the country abducting and raping his victims
Victim one, April 21 – McCann’s sickening attacks began when he snatched a 21-year-old woman as she walked home from Pryzm nightclub in Watford in the early hours.
After kidnapping her with a knife to her throat, he told her: ‘I don’t agree with hitting women’, before raping her in her own bed.
The victim was able to preserve DNA on a tissue and prosecutors said it was ‘one billion more times likely‘ to have come from McCann.
The woman reported the attack to police, McCann’s details were put on the Police National Computer and a prison recall was issued.
McCann using a drive-thru at McDonalds on April 25, while his victim was in his car
Victim two, April 25 – He abducted a 25-year-woman as she walked home from work in Walthamstow and subjected her to a 14-hour rape ordeal.
McCann told her he ‘wanted to make her rape a child’ when they were outside a school.
Victims three and four, April 25 – Hours after abducting the 25-year-old woman, who he was still holding captive, McCann was caught on CCTV bundling a 21-year-old into his car in north London, as her sister, 18, ran off screaming.
The 21-year-old was forced to perform sex acts on the 25-year-woman and was also raped.
The two captives escaped outside the Phoenix Lodge in Watford, after the 25-year-old woman hit McCann over the head with a vodka bottle.
The Metropolitan Police circulated a CCTV image of McCann at the Phoenix Hotel and received a tip-off with his name following a public appeal.
McCann at the Phoenix Lodge Hotel in Watford on the afternoon of April 25, as he left two women, his alleged victims, in his car outside.
Victim five, six and seven, May 5 – McCann struck again after meeting a woman at a bar in Lancashire and going back to her home.
He tied the woman up with cable from her hairdryer. He then subjected her 17-year-old daughter and 11-year-old son to a horrific four hour sex ordeal where they were both raped.
The family’s ordeal came to an end when the girl jumped naked from a first floor bedroom and ran to her grandmother’s house to raise the alarm.
The 17-year-old said in a statement to police: ‘You know when you can see inside someone’s eyes and you know they are pure evil.’
Her distressing 999 call left jurors in tears and led the judge to offer them counselling half way through the trial.
McCann on a bus in Greater Manchester after attacking a family at their house
Victim eight, May 5 – After leaving the house in Lancashire, McCann then abducted a 71-year-old woman in the car park of a supermarket.
When she protested he punched her in the face and later sexually assaulted her in the car.
Victim nine, May 5 – Later that day, McCann abducted a 13-year-old girl.
He forced the pensioner, who was also in the car, to drive as he sexually assaulted the teenager.
Both the girl and the 71-year-old woman were able to escape at Knutsford service station.
Victims 10 and 11, May 5 – His final victims were two 14-year-old girls who crouched in terror on the back seat of his stolen car while being chased by police.
Roadblocks had been set up as police searched for McCann in a stolen Fiat Punto.
He was forced to flee on foot after crashing and abandoning the car and was captured on film running through the back gardens of homes in Cheshire pursued by police.
McCann hid in a tree and – despite being spotted by a police helicopter – refused to give up.
Footage released by the police showed McCann being captured by a specialist team after a four hour standoff.
He was shivering having worn a wet red T-shirt he had snatched from a clothesline while running between houses.
After his arrest he taunted police by saying if they had caught him after the first two rapes he would not have been able to continue with his assaults.
May 6 – A police helicopter finally locates him up a tree, he was coaxed down and arrested.
McCann looking into a Fiat car as he buys petrol and a pack of Durex condoms at a Shell garage with two 14-year-old girls allegedly in the car
Source: Read Full Article