'Black Cab Rapist' Will Stay in Jail
Challenge by John Worboys' victims leads to High Court overturning parole decision
Worboys
A legal challenge by two of John Worboys' victims to the decision by the Parole Board to release the prolific rapist from jail has resulted in the decision being overturned.It has also prompted the board's chairman Nick Hardwick to resign.
The Parole Board praised the "bravery" of the women who brought the action.
60 year old Worboys, now known as John Radford, has served ten years, including remand time, of an indeterminate prison sentence.
He was convicted of one rape, five sexual assaults, one attempted assault and 12 drugging charges - but police believe he committed crimes against more than 100 women between 2002 and 2008.
Worboys, known as the "black cab rapist" targeted vulnerable young women leaving nightclubs in Chelsea and the West End, picking them up in his cab and persuading them to drink a glass of champagne with him. The champagne was drugged and he would then assault them when they were unconscious.
His first attack was in October 2006, when he drugged a 26 year-old office worker going home to Fulham. She was able to escape by getting out of the cab after waking to find Worboys assaulting her.
Another victim was a woman from Putney whom he picked up outside a club on Tottenham Court Road on 21 December 2007. He raped her after driving her home, leaving DNA evidence which was used to convict him.
Mayor of London Sadiq Khan has welcomed the decision, saying: "“I welcome today’s decision, which will bring some reassurance to the victims of John Worboys and to all Londoners.
"My top priority as Mayor of London is to keep Londoners safe. I will always do everything within my power to keep them safe from harm. I was approached by one of his victims and I felt it was my duty to seek a Judicial Review into the Parole Board’s irrational decision.
"I am pleased that our representations were helpful in quashing the Parole Board’s decision and will help to maintain Londoners’ confidence in the criminal justice system.
"Regardless of today’s rulings, there needs to be an urgent overhaul of the way Parole Board decisions to release offenders are taken. The shocking failures in the way John Worboys’ victims were treated has damaged confidence in the criminal justice system and the time has come for more transparency surrounding decisions to let offenders out of prison."
March 29, 2018