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A judge has called for an investigation after a convicted rapist attacked a woman while absconding from prison day release for a second time.
Neil Trennan, 61, received his third life sentence for assaulting a student during unsupervised day release from HMP North Sea Camp in Lincolnshire last year.
Trennan was first jailed for life in 1991 for breaking into a woman’s home in Sheffield, hitting her with a dumbbell, and raping her while unconscious.
He received a second life sentence in 2002 after escaping a “distracted” prison officer on day release in Norwich and hitting a woman with a brick in a public toilet.
Sheffield Crown Court heard that Trennan had confessed to parole boards of being aroused by violence and enjoying “violent, non-consensual sex.”
In July last year, on day release from Lincolnshire, he traveled to Sheffield, followed a student into her home, and attacked her with a knife. She knocked the knife away and locked herself in the bathroom.
The judge said that if she had not fought him off, Trennan would have subjected her to a violent rape.
On Wednesday, Judge Jeremy Richardson KC, Recorder of Sheffield, imposed a third life sentence with a minimum of 10 years, stating it would likely never be safe to release him.
Judge Richardson called it “very unwise” to allow unsupervised release “given what was known about (him),” adding he had “been given no adequate explanation for the decision” and would send his remarks to the Lord Chancellor, who “may demand one.”
He said: “This is an appalling case of history repeating itself and of insufficient heed being taken of that history when you were placed in open prison conditions.
“That must never happen again. As I have stated you pose immense and enduring dangers to women of acute violence and associated sexual depravity.
“No woman is safe whilst ever you remain at large.”