Report finds Major failures led to accidental release of serial rapist

Face of a monster Joseph McCann serial child molester and rapist.

Serial rapist Joseph McCann was released from prison due to significant failings by prison and probation staff, and a policy of not recalling high-risk prisoners to help ease the overcrowding in prison population

He immediately went on a spree of sickening violence, attacking 11 women and children.

The report from HM Inspectorate of Probation, provided damning evidence which proved that there were 8 missed opportunities to recall the monster, in fact he was in the category of IPP (imprisonment for public protection) prisoner before he was released.

The rapist was released from prison where he had been sent for a burglary offence in February 2019.

Within 2 months he went on a booze and drugs crazed rampage, during which he carried out a series of rapes, sexual assaults, and kidnapping offences,  his victims were aged between 11 and 71 years of age.

He was jailed for a minimum term of 30 years in December.

The rapist and child molester was giver 33 life sentences.

Chief inspector of probation, Justin Russell, said “major failings” saw McCann’s case managed by an “unstable team” lacking experience and suffering from “poor management oversight, high workloads, poor performance and high staff turnover”.

It was known since 2003 that McCann was an extremely high risk to the general public, when intercepted mail was examined in a prison he was in at the time.

Reviews in the system regarding his release showed that he should have been recalled to prison after he was caught burgling a home, whilst on license from prison, but instead he was handed a fixed term prison sentence and released automatically half way through without a review.

The report said: “The general  public was entitled to expect “that the authorities will do their job properly, that is to take all reasonable action to keep risk to a minimum in order to protect actual and potential victims. That did not happen in this case”.

“Mistakes and poor judgment by several individuals meant that McCann remained in the community when he could, and should, have been recalled to prison.”

Among key recommendations, the report called for probation staff to have access to all relevant information about individuals, including from historical case records, for prisons to share all relevant information, and for sufficient bed capacity at approved premises for high risk offenders.

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Written by

Mark T Connor

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