Double-rape suspect may have been wrongly released from prison

The ‘extremely dangerous’ suspect in a double rape and abduction may have been wrongly released from prison.

It’s understood Joseph McCann, 34, was released on life-long licence from prison in February 2017 after serving 10 years of an indeterminate sentence for an aggravated burglary.

He was sent back again the same year for theft and burglary, but is believed to have been mistakenly released automatically half-way through his three-year sentence.

It should have been up to the parole board to decide whether he was released or stayed behind bars because he was still subject to licence.

A Ministry of Justice spokesman said: ‘We have commissioned an urgent review into what happened in this case.’

Scotland Yard has offered a reward of up to £20,000 for information leading to his arrest and prosecution.

McCann is wanted over the abduction of two women in their 20s who were separately snatched off the streets in north London last Thursday.

He is also suspected of abducting a 21-year-old woman at knifepoint in Watford in the early hours of April 21 and raping her, Hertfordshire Police said.

Police have warned McCann is ‘extremely dangerous’, known to use false names and may be using a disguise.

He is described as being muscular, about 5ft 10in, and having a ‘distinctive’ tattoo of the name ‘bobbie’ on his stomach.

He is said to have blue eyes, a bald head or shaved blond hair with a light-coloured beard, and a ‘slight’ Irish accent.

Officers said he had recently gone by the name of Joel and has links to Watford, north-west London, Aylesbury in Buckinghamshire, and Ipswich in Suffolk.

The women abducted in London were raped after being snatched by a man in a silver or grey Ford S-Max people carrier with false registration plates.

On Tuesday, a 63-year-old woman from Aylesbury was arrested on suspicion of intimidation of witnesses in connection with the attack and released on bail.

A 33-year-old man arrested on Sunday on suspicion of conspiracy to rape has been released under investigation.