Britain’s worst rapist Reynhard Sinaga could die behind bars after case referred to Court of Apeal

Britain’s worst rapist is one step closer to dying behind bars after the Attorney General referred his case to the Court of Appeal.    

Reynhard Sinaga, 36, was locked up for a minimum of 30 years last week after being convicted of carrying out 159 sex attacks on 48 different men in Manchester after tricking them into taking a date rape drug. 

Lawyers for the Crown Prosecution Service urged Attorney General Geoffrey Cox to look into whether Sinaga’s sentence should be upped to a whole-life tariff. 

Today, Mr Cox QC has announced he is sending his case to the Court Appeal, where judges could re-sentence him to ensure he is never released.  

The Attorney General said: ‘After carefully considering the details of this case, I have decided to refer the sentence to the Court of Appeal.

‘Sinaga carried out an egregious number of attacks over a prolonged period of time, causing substantial pain and psychological suffering to his victims.

‘It is now for the court to decide whether to increase the sentence.’

Sinaga a ‘perpetual student’ studying for a PhD in Manchester thanks to his rich family, picked up drunk and vulnerable men by posing as a ‘good Samaritan’ and offering help, Manchester Crown Court heard during his trial.

Passing sentence, Judge Suzanne Goddard QC said a whole-life order had never been made before in a case other than one involving murder, but despite the ‘vast scale’ of offending making Sinaga’s a borderline case, she would ‘shrink back’ from passing a whole-life term.

However, she added: ‘In my judgment, you are a highly dangerous, cunning and deceitful individual who will never be safe to be released, but that is a matter for the Parole Board.’

Richard Littler QC, defending Sinaga, submitted that the legal authorities did not support the passing of a whole-life sentence in the defendant’s case.

He said the Court of Appeal has never imposed a whole-life order for a discretionary life sentence and, to date, whole-life terms had not been passed in non-homicide cases.

Britain’s worst rapist is one step closer to dying behind bars after Attorney General Geoffrey Cox (pictured outside Downing Street on Tuesday) referred his case to the Court of Appeal 

Court of Appeal (pictured) judges will decide whether to re-sentence him to a whole-life term 

Mr Littler said: ‘This could be accurately described as an evil crime but in fact it cannot accurately be described as a violent crime.’

Police established during their investigations that 195 different males appear to have been unconscious while Sinaga assaulted them, but 70 of them remained unidentified.

After reporting restrictions were lifted and Sinaga was publicly identified following the conclusion of his fourth trial for sex crimes, Greater Manchester Police set up a dedicated incident room and said it had seen a ‘very positive response’ with multiple calls made.

It is thought Sinaga laced his victims’ drinks with a drug such as GHB, also known as liquid ecstasy.

The rapist was caught when one of the men regained consciousness and fought him off before he went to the police and, crucially, handed in Sinaga’s phone.

He was found guilty of a total of 159 offences committed between January 2015 and May 2017 – 136 counts of rape, 13 counts of sexual assault, eight counts of attempted rape and two counts of assault by penetration.

• For anyone who wishes to seek support but does not want to talk to police, St Mary’s Sexual Assault Referral Centre can be reached on 0161 276 6515 and Survivors Manchester can be contacted on 0161 236 2182. The National Male Survivors Helpline can be contacted on 0808 800 5005