Probation staff repeatedly failed to recall serial rapist Joseph McCann to prison despite concerns being raised by other professionals before he went on a sex attack spree, an official review has found.

McCann was handed 33 life sentences and jailed for a minimum term of 30 years in December for the string of attacks on 11 women and children - which began in Watford.

Described by his sentencing judge as a "classic psychopath", the 34-year-old convicted burglar had been freed after a probation service error two months before he embarked on the cocaine and vodka-fuelled rampage.

McCann was seen by probation officers 10 times in two months after his release from prison before he went on his spree of sex attacks.

He left prison in February 2019 and last saw a probation officer on April 19, three days before he committed his first rape, after he abducted a woman in Hagden Lane.

The review, carried out by the Ministry of Justice, found McCann should have been recalled to prison after he committed a burglary while on licence for an earlier offence.

Instead, he was handed a fixed prison sentence and released automatically halfway through, without Parole Board involvement, in February last year.

McCann had been given an indeterminate sentence for public protection (IPP) in 2008 after admitting breaking into and burgling the home of an 85-year-old man.

The terms of that sentence meant the Parole Board had to decide if it was safe to release him once his tariff expired.

Following his release on licence in 2017, McCann committed the second burglary and should have been recalled to prison.

But he was remanded into custody and then given a three-year determinate sentence, which did not take into account his earlier offending.

The review published on Thursday, said: "The most significant practice failing was the repeated failure to recall Joseph McCann or to reflect critically on earlier decisions not to recall him, in the face of both court and prison staff communicating their concerns.

"From the point where McCann was arrested for burglary in 2017 to the point of his release, there were eight occasions where recall was considered or the recall decision was questioned.

"These all represented opportunities to recall.

"If the probation service had recalled McCann he would not have been released until the Parole Board was satisfied his release could be managed in the community."

The findings have prompted the department to ask chief inspector of probation, Justin Russell, to carry out an independent review of the National Probation Service's management of McCann and how the process of recalling offenders to prison is working.

Probation staff working in the region where McCann was supervised operated in "chaotic conditions" due to the size of their workloads, according to a union.

The South East and Eastern National Probation Service (NPS) was one of 21 rated as requiring improvement when it was inspected in May last year.

Probation officers were dealing with at least 42 cases each on average - the highest of any of the seven NPS divisions, according to the report written by inspectors.

The Press Association said the September report found that half the staff interviewed by inspectors said their workload was "unmanageable" and that there were 102 vacancies for officers at the time.

McCann carried out a string of sex attacks on 11 women and children across England.

In the early hours of April 21, he snatched a 21-year-old woman from Hagden Lane in Watford, drove her to a house and raped her.

The woman reported the attack to police, McCann's details were put on the Police National Computer and a prison recall was issued.

But McCann remained at large and on April 25 he abducted a 25-year-woman as she walked home in Walthamstow and subjected her to a 14-hour rape ordeal.

He was still holding her captive when, hours later, he was caught on CCTV bundling another young woman aged 21 into his car in Edgware, as her sister ran off screaming.

The two captives escaped in North Watford, where McCann had tried to book a room at the Phoenix Lodge in St Albans Road, after the 25-year-old woman hit McCann over the head with a vodka bottle.

The Metropolitan Police circulated a CCTV image of McCann at the hotel and received a tip-off with his name following a public appeal.

But on May 5, McCann tricked his way into the home of a woman he met in a bar in Greater Manchester, tied her up and molested her children, aged 17 and 11.

Later that day, McCann pounced on a 71-year-old woman loading shopping in her car outside a supermarket.

He raped her and three hours later he also abducted and assaulted a 13-year-old girl in the same car before they both escaped.

As police closed in, McCann forced two 14-year-old girls into the car by threatening to "chop them up" with a machete.

He was captured on CCTV buying condoms at a service station before he was spotted by a patrol car, which gave chase.

McCann drove the wrong way on a roundabout and crashed into a Mercedes before making off on foot, leaving the "terrified" girls behind.

Later, he was caught in a taxi at a police road block, but he ran off into a field, having changed into a wet T-shirt snatched from a clothes line.

A police helicopter finally located him up a tree, he was coaxed down and arrested early on May 6.