• 3 years ago
• Posted in:Child Sexual Abuse, Rape / Sexual Assault, Sexual Offences
• 0
• Author: Trans Crime
• Tags: 15+ years imprisonment, Aged 50-59, Aged 60-69, Alcohol, Bible used as excuse for sexual offending, Child victim, Convicted 2008, Convicted 2021, England, Female victim, Grooming, Lancashire, Lancashire Constabulary, Multiple victims, Offended 1990s, Offended 2000s, Offended pre-transition, Patrick McCann, Religious conversion, Repeat offender, Reported as a man, School uniform, Social isolation, Trans woman, Victim impact statement

Patrick/Laura McCann, a violent male who identifies as a transgender woman, was convicted at Preston Crown Court in December 2021 of the rape and sexual abuse of two young girls. McCann, 74, of no fixed abode, was sentenced to fifteen and a half years in prison – twelve and a half in custody and a further three years on licence.

In 2008, McCann was convicted of eight counts of indecent assault of a young girl, jailed for six years and placed on the sex offenders’ register for life. At that time McCann had 51 previous offences on record, though reportedly none were sexual offences. At sentencing, McCann’s barrister told the court that the defendant’s life had – somewhat unsurprisingly – been “turned upside down” as a consequence of being charged with multiple offences of indecently assaulting a child; friends McCann had made at a mosque after he converted to Islam had apparently “turned against him” and, while awaiting sentencing, McCann had already experienced the “deep disapproval of the rest of the prison”.

At the 2021 trial, the court heard that the first victim was 12 years old when McCann attacked her in her bed and raped her. In her victim impact statement, she told of the devastating effects that McCann’s crimes against her caused, telling the court “This happened a long time ago but I am worried of all men. All that has happened has affected my relationship with my partner. I get freaked out when I go out on my own.”

McCann began grooming and sexually abusing the other victim when she was 12 years old. She recalled being in her school uniform when McCann took her to the pub and plied her with alcohol. When asked by the police whether sexual penetration had occurred, McCann answered “bloody right I did”. McCann went on to say the offences were ‘moral in the eyes of the Bible’ – but agreed they were against English law.

One of the victims in the 2021 case had originally reported McCann’s offences against her in 2013 – ie after McCann was released from prison in 2012 after serving the first sentence for sexual offences against children, but McCann denied it and was not charged. The police only charged once McCann admitted the offences in May 2021.

Judge Robert Altham said despite the defendant’s wish to ‘wipe the slate clean’ by admitting the offences, the defendant still posed a “significant ongoing danger” to the public by exhibiting “entrenched views that young children can consent to sexual activity with adults”.

Despite reportedly identifying as “a woman called Laura” the Lancashire Police press release refers to McCann as “a man who raped children”.

Photo via Lancashire Police/BBC

Media reports

BBC https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-lancashire-59568793 archive

Lancs Live https://www.lancs.live/news/lancashire-news/sick-child-rapist-used-bible-22390148 archive

Lancashire Telegraph https://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/news/19768011.paedophile-jailed-15-years-raping-girl-12-abusing-another/ archive

Lancashire Telegraph https://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/news/3855375.blackburn-sex-attacker-jailed-six-years/ archive