London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Thursday, Oct 30, 2025

Britain's most prolific rapists should never be freed from jail, appeal court told

Britain's most prolific rapists should never be freed from jail, appeal court told

‘Unduly lenient sentencing’ hearing told Reynhard Sinaga and Joseph McCann should get whole-life terms

Two of Britain’s most notorious rapists should never be released from prison, the court of appeal has heard.

Lawyers argued on Wednesday that the serial rapists Reynhard Sinaga, 37, and Joseph McCann, 35, should receive whole-life terms after causing an “ocean of harm”. The “long-term mental suffering” of victims meant their crimes should be regarded as possibly more harmful than other serious, violent offences.

Both men were originally given minimum terms of 30 years, meaning they are eligible for parole after serving that period.

The most senior judges in England and Wales heard how Sinaga, a post-graduate student from Indonesia, was convicted in four trials of drugging and raping 48 young men he had lured to his Manchester flat under the guise of a “good Samaritan”.

Afterwards, Greater Manchester police said they had evidence he had assaulted at least 195 men, making him Britain’s most prolific rapist. He had filmed the attacks and kept “souvenirs” from his victims: wallets, watches and mobile phones.


Reynhard Sinaga was jailed for life after being convicted in four trials of drugging and raping 48 men.


In December last year, McCann, from London, was convicted of all 37 counts relating to a fortnight-long rampage in 2019 that stretched from London to Cheshire. He raped eight victims, including a 71-year-old woman and a boy aged 11. The boy and his teenage sister were attacked in front of each other in their own home.

Michael Ellis QC, the solicitor general, acting for the government, said McCann “degraded, humiliated and terrified” his victims.


Joseph McCann.


“The effect on these victims was profound, they suffered severe psychological damage; distressing memories; permanent, life changing effects; and a genuine, but of course irrational, sense of guilt,” Ellis told judges including the lord chief Justice of England and Wales. “These offences are among the most serious sexual offences ever seen in this court.”

Both men’s cases were referred to the court of appeal by the attorney general’s office under the “unduly lenient sentencing” scheme.

Until now, whole-life prisoners have always committed exceptionally brutal murders, including the killing of children or involving a sexual or sadistic nature or extremist ideology, the court heard.

About 50 prisoners are subject to such sentences, including Michael Adebolajo, who murdered the soldier Lee Rigby near his barracks in London, and the serial killer Levi Bellfield.

Sarah Whitehouse QC, for the Crown Prosecution Service, told the appeal judges that just because none of McCann and Sinaga’s victims died it did not mean the men should automatically be spared full-life terms.

She said: “It is not right to compare the facts of one case with another. It is rarely helpful and indeed it is odious to seek to compare the harm caused in these two cases with, for example, the murder of a child or the murders of multiple victims.

“But we observe that harm is not limited to physical harm. As increasingly more is known about the psychological effects of sexual offending, particularly the long term effects, we invite the court to consider the long term mental suffering inflicted on the victims in these two cases.

“Such suffering is not as dramatic or obvious as the broken jaw or the knife wound across the face or the broken nose. It is often invisible. But in our submission must be given an equal place, if not a higher place, in the hierarchy of harm. In both cases brought today to the courts there is what could be described a vast ocean of harm.”

Whitehouse noted that one of Sinaga’s victims had tried to kill himself, others had suicidal thoughts and some were now abusing drugs and alcohol.

However, the rapists’ lawyers argued that their original sentences should stand, noting that neither men would be automatically released when they had served their minimum term.

Richard Littler QC, for Sinaga, said that taken individually, his client’s crimes were not “exceptionally serious”. But that they became so when all added together.

He said: “The whole life sentence has always been classified as the sentence of last resort. We submit in this case it would not be appropriate on the facts. There’s no authority which would justify the imposition of a whole life sentence where the individual facts themselves are not exceptionally serious, but because there are so many complainants, the prolific offending makes the case exceptional.”

The appeal court judges will give judgment on Thursday at the earliest.

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
UK and Vietnam Sign Landmark Migration Deal to Fast-Track Returns of Irregular Arrivals
UK Drug-Pricing Overhaul Essential for Life-Sciences Ambition, Says GSK Chief
Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie Temporarily Leave the UK Amid Their Parents’ Royal Fallout
UK Weighs Early End to Oil and Gas Windfall Tax as Reeves Seeks Investment Commitments
UK Retail Inflation Slows as Shop Prices Fall for First Time Since Spring
Next Raises Full-Year Profit Guidance After Strong Third-Quarter Performance
Reform UK’s Lee Anderson Admits to 'Gaming' Benefits System While Advocating Crackdown
United States and South Korea Conclude Major Trade Accord Worth $350 Billion
Hurricane Melissa Strikes Cuba After Devastating Jamaica With Record Winds
Vice President Vance to Headline Turning Point USA Campus Event at Ole Miss
U.S. Targets Maritime Narco-Routes While Border Pressure to Mexico Remains Limited
Bill Gates at 70: “I Have a Real Fear of Artificial Intelligence – and Also Regret”
Elon Musk Unveils Grokipedia: An AI-Driven Alternative to Wikipedia
Saudi Arabia Unveils Vision for First-Ever "Sky Stadium" Suspended Over Desert Floor
Amazon Announces 14 000 Corporate Job Cuts as AI Investment Accelerates
UK Shop Prices Fall for First Time Since March, Food Leads the Decline
London Stock Exchange Group ADR (LNSTY) Earns Zacks Rank #1 Upgrade on Rising Earnings Outlook
Soap legend Tony Adams, long-time star of Crossroads, dies at 84
Rachel Reeves Signals Tax Increases Ahead of November Budget Amid £20-50 Billion Fiscal Gap
NatWest Past Gains of 314% Spotlight Opportunity — But Some Key Risks Remain
UK Launches ‘Golden Age’ of Nuclear with £38 Billion Sizewell C Approval
UK Announces £1.08 Billion Budget for Offshore Wind Auction to Boost 2030 Capacity
UK Seeks Steel Alliance with EU and US to Counter China’s Over-Capacity
UK Struggles to Balance China as Both Strategic Threat and Valued Trading Partner
Argentina’s Markets Surge as Milei’s Party Secures Major Win
British Journalist Sami Hamdi Detained by U.S. Authorities After Visa Revocation Amid Israel-Gaza Commentary
King Charles Unveils UK’s First LGBT+ Armed Forces Memorial at National Memorial Arboretum
At ninety-two and re-elected: Paul Biya secures eighth term in Cameroon amid unrest
Racist Incidents Against UK Nurses Surge by 55%
UK Chancellor Rachel Reeves Cites Shared Concerns With Trump Administration as Foundation for Early US-UK Trade Deal
Essentra plc: A Closer Look at a UK ‘Penny Stock’ Opportunity Amid Market Weakness
U.S. and China Near Deal to Avert Rare-Earth Export Controls Ahead of Trump-Xi Summit
Justin time: Justin Herbert Shields Madison Beer with Impressive Reflex at Lakers Game
Russia’s President Putin Declares Burevestnik Nuclear Cruise Missile Ready for Deployment
Giuffre’s Memoir Alleges Maxwell Claimed Sexual Act with Clooney
House Republicans Move to Strip NYC Mayoral Front-Runner Zohran Mamdani of U.S. Citizenship
Record-High Spoiled Ballots Signal Voter Discontent in Ireland’s 2025 Presidential Election
Philippines’ Taal Volcano Erupts Overnight with 2.4 km Ash Plume
Albania’s Virtual AI 'Minister' Diella Set to 'Birth' Eighty-Three Digital Assistants for MPs
Tesla Unveils Vision for Optimus V3 as ‘Biggest Product of All Time’, Including Surgical Capabilities
Francis Ford Coppola Auctions Luxury Watches After Self-Financed Film Flop
Convicted Sex Offender Mistakenly Freed by UK Prison Service Arrested in London
United States and China Begin Constructive Trade Negotiations Ahead of Trump–Xi Summit
U.S. Treasury Sanctions Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro over Drug-Trafficking Allegations
Miss USA Crowns Nebraska’s Audrey Eckert Amid Leadership Overhaul
‘I Am Not Done’: Kamala Harris Signals Possible 2028 White House Run
NBA Faces Integrity Crisis After Mass Arrests in Gambling Scandal
Swift Heist at the Louvre Sees Eight French Crown Jewels Stolen in Under Seven Minutes
U.S. Halts Trade Talks with Canada After Ontario Ad Using Reagan Voice Triggers Diplomatic Fallout
Microsoft AI CEO: ‘We’re making an AI that you can trust your kids to use’ — but can Microsoft rebuild its own trust before fixing the industry’s?
×