the times | Thursday October 15 2020 2GM 21
News
HUGH HASTINGS/GETTY IMAGESTwo of Britain’s most notorious rapists
should spend the rest of their lives in
jail, the solicitor-general told senior
judges yesterday in a landmark attempt
to increase sentences of offenders.
The historic appeal will test the exist-
ing practice that only murderers should
be jailed for their entire lives.
Reynhard Sinaga and Joseph
McCann committed “some of the worst
and most violent” sexual offences in
English legal history, prosecutors said.
Each was given a life sentence with a
30-year minimum jail term. But yester-
day Michael Ellis, QC, applied for the
two men to be given “whole life” tariffs.
The solicitor-general said that there
was “no hierarchy of seriousness, such
that homicide must always rank above
sexual offending when courts consider
sentencing”. He added: “These offences
Britons are now second only to Albani-
ans among victims of modern slavery in
the UK as growing numbers are caught
in county lines gangs and labour
exploitation, according to a report.
The number of British victims helped
to escape a life of servitude reached 246
in the year to July, up from 136 the pre-
vious year, the Salvation Army found.
The overall number of victims who
were helped rose for the ninth consecu-
tive year, although referrals dropped at
the start of lockdown. The charity said
that 46 per cent of the Britons involved
had been enslaved through forced
criminality, with 29 per cent in forced
labour, 19 per cent sexually exploited
and 4 per cent in domestic slavery.
The figures were revealed as criminal
justice experts called for judges to be
The base has become so popular with
spotters that there is a dedicated car
park and viewing area.
Coningsby is home to two combat-
ready squadrons and is the training sta-
tion for Typhoon pilots, as well as being
the base for the Battle of Britain Memo-
rial Flight.
Vicki Dingle, a plane spotter, said on
social media: “Why do people have to
ruin things for others? We visit a few
times a year. We park at the car park.
We love it. I’d happily let you guys know
or anything that will spoil things for us
who appreciate what you do.”
Michael Haynes said: “I spent three
days at Coningsby at various locations
and was amazed at the amount of
damage to the chain link fence!”This just won’t fly, RAF tells
rogue plane spotters at base
Lucy Fisher
More Britons are forced into slavery
given the power to tailor sentences
specifically for those who control
and financially benefit from modern
slavery.
Proposals from a Sentencing Council
consultation paper would apply to
those guilty of offences including
slavery, servitude, compulsory labour
or trafficking people for exploitation.
It suggests that the toughest
sentences be reserved for those “who
expect substantial financial advantage
and who expose victims to an extreme-
ly high risk of death, serious physical,
sexual or psychological harm, or
substantial and long-term adverse
impact”.
The council drew a distinction
between some slavery operations “run
on a large and sophisticated scale, with
potentially substantial financial gain”
and other offences that involved “indi-vidual servitude with little or no profit
expected”.
Lord Justice Holroyde, the council’s
chairman, said that victims could be left
“feeling so vulnerable that they do not
complain, making it harder for offend-
ers to be brought to justice”.
Dame Sara Thornton, the anti-slave-
ry commissioner, welcomed the pro-
posals because the courts did not have
a sentencing framework that took ac-
count of convictions for offences in-
volving “the abuse and exploitation of
vulnerable people for profit”.
Chris Philp, the justice minister, said
that the proposed guidelines “will
ensure that the thugs and criminal
gangs found responsible are properly
punished for the misery in which they
trade”.
We should be proud of our work to
wipe out slavery, Thunderer, page 24John Simpson, Jonathan Ames
The RAF has criticised rogue plane
spotters for damaging the security
fence at the home of the Battle of Brit-
ain Memorial Flight.
Some enthusiasts have been forcing
their camera lenses through the fence
surrounding RAF Coningsby in Lin-
colnshire from where Spitfires, Hurri-
canes and Lancaster bombers fly.
There have been “several instances of
damage caused to the security fence” in
recent weeks, according to the base,
which has appealed on social media for
the public to report wrongdoers to the
RAF Police. “We take attempts to dam-
age the integrity of our security very se-
riously,” it said in a statement online.Law chief seeks
to keep mass
rapists in jail
until they die
police have linked him to more than 190
potential victims.
The attorney-general’s office sent
both men’s sentences to the Court of
Appeal this year as “unduly lenient”. At
a hearing in central London yesterday,
Mr Ellis described in detail the crimes
of both defendants. Mr Ellis said that
Sinaga was “the most prolific sex of-
fender ever to come before the courts”.
He said that McCann had “degraded,
humiliated and terrified” his victims.
Sinaga had raped at least 44 of the
men he attacked. “He prowled the
streets by night looking for young men
who were drunk,” Mr Ellis said, adding
that the men were lured to Sinaga’s
central Manchester apartment by of-
fering to help them charge a mobile
telephone or order a taxi before drug-
ging and raping them.
“Most but not all victims were subject
to multiple rapes one victim was raped
three times in two hours. Another was
raped eight times over six hours.”
He said that some of the victims vom-
ited while they were unconscious.
Sarah Whitehouse, QC, told the
court that in McCann’s case, all the
victims had suffered “life-changing
effects” and in Sinaga’s case “some had
suicidal thoughts and one did attempt
suicide”.
Jo Sidhu, QC, for McCann, argued
that his life sentence, though it carries a
set minimum of 30 years, already de-
pended on proving to the parole board
that he was ready to be released.
“From what I have seen it’s difficult to
see how he could ever be released,” Mr
Sidhu said in reference to the judge’s
comments at McCann’s sentencing.
Sinaga was present via videolink
from prison but McCann, who ob-
structed hearings and trials by refusing
to leave his cell, was not.
Speaking outside court, Mr Ellis said:
“We have never before had a case which
has resulted in a whole life sentence
which was not one of homicide. This
would be a first but it is right in my view
that these cases are considered as
wholly exceptional.”
The hearing continues today.John Simpson Crime Correspondent
Jonathan Ames Legal Editor
Brew with a view Darcie Dawe picks tea leaves at Tregothnan estate, Cornwall, where 20,000 bushes are planted each year
Migrant boat halts firing range exercise
The army was forced to halt an exercise
on a firing range in Kent yesterday after
a group of migrants came ashore.
About 16 men, thought to be Albani-
an, motored across the Channel in a
powerful inflatable boat. They landed
on a beach at the Ministry of Defence’s
Lydd Ranges near Romney Marsh.
Military spotters were posted on the
shoreline to look out for civilian vessels
such as kayaks drifting into the “rangedanger area”, according to a defence
source. They caught sight of the boat
offshore mid-morning and ordered
shooting to cease.
Soldiers laid down their SA80 assault
rifles while the police were summoned
and Border Force was alerted. The
armed forces exercise, which involved
about 100 regulars and reservists, was
interrupted for two hours in total.
The migrants fled and attempted to
hide but were tracked by military per-
sonnel and detained by immigration of-ficials. Their boat is thought to have
cost £20,000 and was one of the most
advanced vessels to transport migrants
across the Channel, it was claimed. Six-
teen life jackets were found in the vessel
and an Albanian passport.
So far this year a record 7,173 migrants
have reached UK shores in small boats
compared with about 1,800 in the
whole of last year. Last month 1,954
made it across the Channel.
The Home Office was contacted for
comment.Lucy Fisher Defence Editor
Joseph McCann attacked 11 women
and children; Reynhard Sinaga 48 men
are among the most serious sexual
offences ever seen in our courts.”
The case is the first time in which
sentences for two offenders in separate
cases have been challenged together as
being unduly lenient.
McCann, 35, was given 33 life sen-
tences at the Old Bailey in December
last year for sex attacks on 11 women
and children in London, Manchester
and Cheshire during a 15-day cocaine
and vodka-fuelled rampage.
Sinaga, a 37-year-old PhD student,
was also sentenced to life in January by
Manchester crown court for a total of
159 offences, including 136 rapes, com-
mitted against 48 men — although