...UNSUNG HEROES
HERO STOKE-ON-TRENT CABBIE WHO LED SERIAL RAPIST JOSEPH MCCANN TO POLICE
A hero Stoke-on- Trent cabbie has told of the moment he realised his pas- senger was a serial rapist - before driv- ing him straight to the police. Brave Iftab Hussain, 31, had just started his shift when he got the call to pick up Joseph McCann who was wanted for a fortnight-long sex attack rampage on 11 strangers across the country. He col- lected the fugitive from a pub and ad- mitted he was im- mediately suspici- ous of McCann as he hadn’t specified a destination when he
ordered the taxi. The driver said: “He got in and said he’d been drinking all night and had no idea where he was.” McCann had just been involved in a high-speed police chase and crashed his car nearby. He fled on foot before calling Kidsgrove Taxis to pick him up as police issued an urgent appeal. Iftab continued: “After I picked him up I got an alert on my PDA to say that a wanted man was in this area and there were road- blocks on the A34. “I looked in my rear
Iftab Hussain (l) and rapist Joseph McCann
view mirror and realised that he was in my cab. I hid the PDA so he couldn’t see that the alert. He kept saying ‘go on the M6’. At that point I took a right onto the A34. Thank God he didn’t realise.
“I knew there’d be a roadblock and the police would stop me. I thought any- thing could happen here. He had a glass in his hand and he could have taken me hostage. “When I reached a
roadblock McCann said: ‘don’t stop’, he was kicking the back of my chair. But I did stop the car and a police offi- cer jumped in and asked to see his tat- toos. He kept saying ‘It’s not me’. He got out of the car and as one of the officers turned he ran through a hedge. “Minutes later there were about 50 offi- cers in the area and two helicopters. “I stayed there as they searched. It was terrifying. But eventually they found him up a tree.” Iftab brushed off descriptions of him
as a hero - saying: “His victims who stood up in court are the real heroes. “I just did the right thing - that’s all. I knew I was in dan- ger but if he’d got away he could have killed someone.” McCann was found guilty of 37 offences at the Old Bailey last month. Mr Justice Edis said: “You are a classic psychopath; I don’t think you will ever cease to be dangerous.” He sen- tenced McCann to 33 life sentences to be served concur- rently, with a mini- mum term of 30 years in jail.
JANUARY 2020
33
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96
