Decision to free black cab rapist Worboys overturned
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Decision to free black cab rapist Worboys overturned
Image:John Worboys carried out the attacks between 2002 and 2008
By Sunita Patel-Carstairs, News Reporter
Victims of black cab rapist John Worboys have succeeded in forcing the Parole Board to rethink its decision to free him from jail.
Lawyers for two women, who cannot be named for legal reasons, argued the panel's decision to approve the 60-year-old's release was "irrational" and should be overturned.
Three High Court judges upheld the legal challenge on Wednesday and ordered the Parole Board to reconsider its decision.
It means Worboys - known as the black cab rapist after attacking victims in his hackney carriage - will remain in prison pending the fresh review.
Judges said the panel "should have undertaken further inquiry into the circumstances of his offending" and examined how "the limited way... he has described his offending may undermine his overall credibility and reliability".
They ordered the case be "remitted to the Parole Board for fresh determination before a differently constituted panel".
Video:Parole chair in January 2018: Women 'were failed'
Worboys was jailed indefinitely in 2009 with a minimum term of eight years after being found guilty of 19 offences, including rape, sexual assault and drugging, committed against 12 victims.
Police believe he committed crimes against 105 women between 2002 and 2008, when he was caught.
The CPS decided not to overload the indictment against Worboys by prosecuting him for every attack.
Dozens of women were told the prosecution would be more powerful if the court heard only the strongest cases.
One of the victims who took the case to the High Court said after the judgment: "It is the whole system that has failed. I feel like I have been let down at every step.
"As victims we should have been supported and not having to fight every step of the way in court."
She added that she was confident the Parole Board will now make the right decision on Worboys.
London Mayor Sadiq Khan, who brought the challenge with the victims via a judicial review, said the ruling would "give some reassurance" to Worboys' victims "and to all Londoners".
Law firm Slater and Gordon represented 11 of Worboys' victims.
Video:Worboys victims say police did not believe their accounts
Kim Harrison, a lawyer with the firm, said: "We have said all along that Worboys is a manipulative and calculating individual who conned the Parole Board into granting his release.
"Our clients, who have been terrified that he will track them down after his release, can now sleep easy in their beds safe in the knowledge that this serial sex offender will be kept in jail where he belongs."
As the court announced its decision, Nick Hardwick quit as chairman of the Parole Board, saying he was "sorry for the mistakes that were made in this case", but asserted: "I had no role in the decision of the panel in this case."
He added that both he and the panel were wrong to believe that only crimes for which Worboys had been convicted could be taken into consideration.
The Parole Board said its "members make incredibly difficult and complex decisions every day that can have a devastating impact on victims and the case of John Worboys is no different".
"The courts have decided we must go back and look at this case again in light of additional information that wasn't before the original panel and we will do just that," it added.
Image:Nick Hardwick has resigned as chairman of the Parole Board
Justice Secretary David Gauke said he stood by his decision not to challenge the Parole Board because the "victims succeeded in a different argument".
He said: "I took expert legal advice from leading counsel on whether I should bring a challenge.
"The bar for judicial review is set high. I considered whether the decision was legally rational - in other words, a decision which no reasonable Parole Board could have made.
"The advice I received was that such an argument was highly unlikely to succeed. And, indeed, this argument did not succeed."
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