Life Term For Man Who Raped Woman Hours Before Getting Married

28 April 2017, 15:35 | Updated: 28 April 2017, 17:45

Evil Derry McCann has been jailed today for at least nine years after a horrific attack that saw him viciously rape a woman just hours before he was due to get married.

The victim, a woman in her 20s, was walking home near Victoria Park after an evening out with pals when McCann struck.

As she tried to pass him on Grove Road, he grabbed her and pulled her towards her benches. Telling her to be quiet, he began a prolonged and sickening attack that saw him rape, beat and humiliate the woman.

She tried to keep him calm but McCann responded by punching her in the face.

He took photos of her after the ordeal, telling her she was lucky he had not recorded it in video. He stole her phone before fleeing the scene. Just a few hours later, he got married.

Today he was sentenced to life in prison and will serve a minimum of nine years.

The victim's description led police to identify McCann and he was arrested less than a week after the attack. He refused to speak to police but the woman he had attacked recognised him and identified him in an identity parade.

Judge Martyn Zeidman QC sentenced him to three concurrent life sentences for three counts of rape and told McCann: "You set up to degrade and humiliate her in ways that are so cruel and gross that I will not identify them further.

"I'm worried that you might relish a recital of it.

"Amazingly, just hours later you married your pregnant girlfriend. I'm just wondering what sentence you would impose if someone had done this to your wife or a female friend of yours."

When McCann was first convicted, Detective Inspector Lee Davison said: "This man is a vicious predator and an extreme danger to woman.

"He preyed on his victim and set out to degrade her physically and psychologically.

"No one should have to endure what she was forced to go through and I want to formally pay tribute to her courage and determination. It is through her bravery we have been able to bring McCann to justice."