A FUGITIVE wanted for three rapes is in custody after two more women were abducted 150 miles away in Cheshire.
Joseph McCann, 34, was filmed being driven away in a police car in the early hours of this morning after a tense standoff with police in Congleton.
In the latest incident on Sunday, two women were forced into a black Fiat Punto in Congleton town centre.
After a car chase and further searches, McCann was found in a tree on a rural lane near the town.
Negotiators along with paramedics were deployed to the scene and McCann was eventually taken into custody in the early hours of Monday morning.
McCann – wanted for three “horrific” rapes in five days last month – was identified by the Cheshire force in an urgent appeal after the two women were abducted in the town centre at 6.45pm on Sunday.
The car sped off after it was spotted and pursued by officers, before it hit another car and the driver fled.
Police said the women had been left “extremely shaken” as a result of their ordeal but were unhurt.
FUGITIVE ‘STRUCK AGAIN’
McCann was already wanted by Scotland Yard after two young women were abducted at random in different parts of North London 12 hours apart on April 25.
They were taken to Watford but managed to escape after smashing a vodka bottle over the attacker’s head.
It subsequently emerged that he was also a suspect in the abduction and rape of a third woman who was attacked at knifepoint in Watford, Hertfordshire, on April 21.
Cops believe McCann, who has a “distinctive” tattoo of the name “bobbie” on his stomach, was being hidden by a friend or family member.
He is suspected of having committed the series of rapes and abductions after being released early from prison on licence, where he had been serving a three-year jail term for theft and burglary.
The Ministry of Justice launched an urgent review after it emerged McCann may have been wrongly released from prison in February this year.
He was freed automatically halfway through a three-year sentence for burglary and theft – but should have gone before a parole board, it is understood.
McCann is believed to have been subject to a life-long licence after he was released from prison in February 2017 having served ten years of an indeterminate sentence for public protection for an aggravated burglary.
A reward of £20,000 was offered for McCann’s capture. Cops had release CCTV footage of a suspect trying to book a hotel room for himself and two victims.
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