TWO notorious rapists who committed 'some of the worst and most violent' sexual offences in English legal history could spend the rest of their life in jail if senior judges decide they should be given whole life terms.

Joseph McCann, 35, was given 33 life sentences at the Old Bailey in December for a string of horrific sex attacks on 11 women and children during a 15-day cocaine and vodka-fuelled rampage.

McCann's string of offending took him to Haslingden where he tricked his way into the home of a woman after meeting her at the Live Lounge bar in Haslingden. He tied her up and molested her children, aged 17 and 11.

Reynhard Sinaga, 37, was also sentenced to life in January at Manchester Crown Court for a total of 159 offences, including 136 counts of rape, committed against 48 men – although police have linked him to more than 190 potential victims.

The Attorney General’s Office referred the 30-year minimum jail terms handed to McCann and Sinaga to the Court of Appeal as “unduly lenient” earlier this year.

At a hearing in London on Wednesday, solicitor general Michael Ellis QC will argue that McCann and Sinaga should both have been given a whole life tariff for a litany of sexual offences, which are “some of the worst and most violent that this country has ever witnessed”.

The hearing, which will test whether a whole life order can be imposed in non-homicide cases, will also be the first time two separate offenders’ sentences have been challenged together as being unduly lenient.

Five senior judges – including the Lord Chief Justice Lord Burnett and the President of the Queen’s Bench Division, Dame Victoria Sharp – are expected to hear the case over two days.