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Rape accused Joseph McCann told victim he had just got out of jail, court hears

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Joseph McCann court case

Serial rape accused Joseph McCann told his first alleged victim he had just got out of jail after “doing 18 years”, a court has heard.

McCann, 34, kidnapped a 21-year-old woman as she walked home from Pryzm nightclub in Watford in the early hours of April 21, it is claimed.

After raping her in her own bed, he claimed she was “one of 15 girlfriends” and scared her by saying he had been in prison, the Old Bailey was told.

The victim told police that during her ordeal, McCann had told her: “You don’t want to mess with me, you don’t want to f*** with me. I have just done 18 years for something. I will not tell you what.”

Jurors were shown CCTV footage of the woman leaving the club and walking along the road talking on her mobile phone.

At 9am that morning, she was captured on video at a BP petrol station in a Ford Mondeo with the defendant.

Wearing an Adidas T-shirt, cap and jogging bottoms, McCann went into the garage shop alone while the woman remained in the passenger seat of the car, the court heard.

Afterwards, the woman reported being “raped and kidnapped at knifepoint”.

In a tearful videoed interview played in court, she said: “I was on the phone when it happened.

“I felt the knife and he put his arm round me so I couldn’t move. The knife is at my neck. I felt it, it was sharp.

“I dropped my bag first. I still held on to my phone. He told me to shut up and walk to the car.

“He just kept calling me Hayley at first. Kept saying I’m a ‘stupid girl’. I think he slapped me in the face because I was crying.”

Joseph McCann court case
Undated handout photo issued by Metropolitan Police of Joseph McCann who is on trial accused of a series of rapes (Met Police/PA).

The woman said he drove around and told her she had to “join the firm”, before taking her back to her flat, where he allegedly raped her in bed.

Afterwards, the woman said she “just acted like it was OK”.

She said: “He kept saying I was one of his 15 girlfriends and I would get on with his wife and kids.

“He was kind of scaring me saying he just got out of prison after doing 18 years.”

She said he took a wig off and put on a hat when they got to the petrol station before he let her go.

McCann, from Harrow, north-west London, denies 37 charges relating to 11 alleged victims aged between 11 and 71.

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