Neil Trennan followed a student into her house and attacked her while armed with a knife.
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A judge has called for an investigation after a convicted rapist attacked a woman after absconding from prison day release for a second time.
Neil Trennan, 61, was handed his third life sentence after attacking a student following an “astonishing decision” to grant him unsupervised day release from HMP North Sea Camp in Lincolnshire last year.
Trennan was first jailed for life in 1991 for breaking into a woman’s home in Sheffield, hitting her in the head with a dumbbell and raping her while she was unconscious.
He was handed a second life sentence in 2002 after escaping from a “distracted” prison officer while on day release in Norwich, going into a women’s toilet and hitting a woman with a brick.
Sheffield Crown Court heard Trennan had previously confessed to parole boards throughout his time in jail that he was aroused by violence and “enjoyed ‘violent, non-consensual sex”.
In July last year, he was on day release from prison in Lincolnshire when he travelled to Sheffield, followed a student into her house and started to attack her while armed with a knife.
The court heard the woman managed to knock the knife from his hand and locked herself in the bathroom.
The judge said if the student had not managed to fight him off, Trennan would have subjected her to a violent rape.
On Wednesday Judge Jeremy Richardson KC, the Recorder of Sheffield, gave Trennan a third life sentence, with a minimum term of 10 years, but said it would likely never be safe for him to be released from prison.
Judge Richardson said it was “very unwise” for Trennan to have been allowed any form of unsupervised release “given what was known about (him)”.
The judge said he had “been given no adequate explanation for the decision” but would send his sentencing remarks to the Lord Chancellor, who “may demand one”.
Judge Richardson said: “This is an appalling case of history repeating itself and of insufficient heed being taken of that history when you were placed in open prison conditions.
“That must never happen again. As I have stated you pose immense and enduring dangers to women of acute violence and associated sexual depravity.
“No woman is safe whilst ever you remain at large.”
Before being taken down to the cells, Trennan turned to his victim, who was sobbing in the public gallery, and said: “Sorry.”
He pleaded guilty to remaining unlawfully at large after recall to prison, aggravated burglary, possessing a knife and trespassing on premises with intent to commit a relevant sexual offence.
The court heard Trennan has a history of sexual offending dating back to the 1980s, with the judge saying he “harboured an insatiable appetite for physical violence upon women coupled to sexual violence”.
After receiving his first life sentence for raping and wounding a woman in her own home, Trennan later told a prison psychologist he was “aroused by the violence and the angrier (he) became the greater the arousal”.
In 2024, he told a community offender manager he “committed the rape because he felt he could get away with it” and repeated how he became aroused by sexual violence.
Judge Richardson said: “It is against this backdrop of an obvious risk of serious harm and posing a massive danger to women it was an extremely surprising, and potentially wrong, decision that you were transferred to open prison conditions at HMP North Sea Camp.
“I have been given no adequate explanation why this decision was made, and this is something which the Lord Chancellor may wish to investigate. I sincerely hope so.
“A mistake was, in my judgment, made. I trust it will never be made again.
“It is astonishing to me that you were permitted to leave the prison in Lincolnshire on an unsupervised basis simply trusting that you would return.
“Given the history and the obvious risks you posed – and you were expressing as late as 2023 and 2024 – it is astonishing you were subject to this liberal regimen.”
The court heard that in July last year Trennan travelled to a Sheffield suburb and followed a female student who walked past him in the street.
She went into her house, leaving the door unlocked as her friends were due to visit, and Trennan went inside.
The judge said he apologised for being lost but then “began to touch her all over her body using significant force”.
“She tried to defend herself as best she could, but you were overpowering her to the floor,” the judge said.
“You reached into your pocket and brought out the knife. (The woman) was immensely brave and managed to knock the knife from your hand.
“You went to get it and it was at this point (she) secured her escape from your violent attack. She ran to the bathroom and locked herself in that room. She shouted for help and you left.
“There is no doubt that had (she) not escaped by managing to knock the knife from your hand, you would unquestionably have subjected her to a violent rape.”
The court heard Trennan was at large for three days before being arrested in York.
The victim was heard sobbing in court as the judge described how her life had been “shattered” by the ordeal, taking time off work to recover.
Senior Crown Prosecutor Caroline Deacon said: “Neil Trennan is an exceptionally dangerous man with a proven history of violent and predatory sexual offending.
“Whilst serving two life sentences, he failed to return from day leave from his open prison.
“Armed with a knife, he targeted an innocent young woman in Sheffield and then followed her to into her home with the intention of subjecting her to a violent sexual assault.
“It is only through the courage and quick thinking of his victim that he did not succeed.”
The most recent inspection of HMP North Sea Camp in 2023 found that it was “very safe, with reasonably good or good outcomes”.
The small, open prison on the Lincolnshire coast holds up to 300 adult prisoners.
An HM Inspectorate of Prisons report found that “absconds and temporary release failures were very infrequent and compared favourably with other open prisons,” with three prisoners having absconded in the past year.
According to the prison’s Independent Monitoring Board, all HMP North Sea Camp inmates eventually go out on temporary licence, resettlement day release and resettlement overnight release (ROR), in preparation for release back into the community.
