Woman 'smashed vodka bottle over Joseph McCann's head to escape abduction', court hears

Joseph McCann alleged to have committed a series of rapes
Metropiltan Police
Luke O'Reilly18 November 2019
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Joseph McCann was caught on camera at a hotel shortly before he was smashed over the head with a vodka bottle by one of his alleged victims, a court heard.

The 34-year-old defendant went into the Phoenix Lodge in Watford on the afternoon of April 25, leaving two women in a car parked outside.

McCann was captured on CCTV as he entered the hotel wearing a tracksuit and a baseball cap covering his bald head.

He held the front door open and glanced repeatedly outside while rapping on the window of the reception desk to speak to staff.

The Old Bailey has heard he then told his alleged captives to get out of the car and smile as he put his arms around them.

Instead, one of them, a 25-year-old woman, grabbed a bottle of vodka and hit him over the head with it before running for help.

On Friday, she told jurors he reacted by saying "what the f***" as she fled to a nearby shop, followed soon after by a 21-year-old woman.

The older woman had been snatched in Walthamstow, east London, early on April 25 and repeatedly raped during a 14-hour ordeal, jurors have heard.

While she was held prisoner, McCann bundled the 21-year-old woman into his car in north London and sexually assaulted her too, it is alleged.

On Monday, she rejected as "ludicrous" a suggestion by McCann's lawyer that she had willingly got into the car with him.

Trial judge Mr Justice Edis also explained the absence of McCann from the dock, telling jurors: "The defendant, Joseph McCann, has decided, for his own reasons, not to be present at his trial.

"He is free to attend if he wishes and arrangements are in place so that he can come here during this trial whenever he chooses.

"He will not be compelled to attend. If he changes his mind then we will see him, otherwise we will not."

McCann, from Harrow, west London, denies 37 charges relating to 11 women and children including rape, false imprisonment and kidnap.

Additional reporting by PA Media

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