Serial rapist Anthony Curran jailed

Jun 24 2009 by Sophie Doughty, The Journal

WITH a screwdriver pressed to her throat, vile Anthony Curran trapped a woman in his dirty flat and raped her twice.

Yet, just three years after he was jailed for the terrifying attack, the violent predator was free to rape and rape again.

Victims campaigners say evil Curran should have been locked away and unable to continue his pattern of sex attacks.

But the 28-year-old fiend was released after serving just three years of his six-year sentence, and two years later his pattern of sick sex attacks continued.

Curran, of Ridley Avenue in Howdon, Wallsend, is today behind bars indefinitely after preying on two vulnerable strangers in premeditated attacks.

But as the serial rapist begins his sentence, questions are being asked about why he was freed so soon and able to attack again.

And last night, a North East rape expert called for a change in the law to protect women from monsters like Curran.

Dr Nicole Westmarland, who is a chairwoman of the charity Rape Crisis, and a lecturer in criminology at Durham University, said: “The fact that these two rapes were committed so soon after release shows that serious questions must be asked about how the criminal justice system deals with sexually violent men.

“It is clearly not enough just to lock someone up for a few years and then hope for the best.