UK’s ‘most prolific rapist’ may be repatriated to serve life in Indonesia’s ‘Alcatraz’
Reynhard Sinaga, convicted of drugging and raping 48 men in Manchester, may be repatriated to serve out his life sentence in his homeland
Reynhard Sinaga was convicted in 2020 of drugging and raping 48 men, whom he lured back to his flat from bars in the city of Manchester. He would then drug them and record the sexual assaults on his phone.
His crimes make him the “the most prolific rapist in British legal history”, according to the Crown Prosecution Service. Police said they have evidence he committed sexual offences against 206 men over a decade, although dozens of his victims have yet to be identified.
Official discussions about his potential transfer from the UK’s overcrowded prison system to Indonesia were confirmed last week by Indonesia’s senior minister for law and human rights affairs, Yusril Ihza Mahendra.
“No matter how wrong a citizen is, the country has an obligation to defend its citizen,” he told reporters in Jakarta on Thursday.
“It’s not an easy job for us,” he added, saying the negotiations ahead with British authorities are complex but could involve a prisoner exchange of a British citizen jailed in Indonesia.
Reynhard grew up in the city of Depok in West Java and moved to the UK in 2007 for graduate studies. His shocking sex crimes were only stopped in 2017 after a victim woke up during an assault, fought him off and filed a police complaint.