The Sun launches legal bid to make John Worboys Parole Board reveal why it agreed to release black cab rapist
We have partnered with the Daily Mail to write to the board and the Justice Secretary to publish the confidential report that led to the release of Britain's worst sex offender
THE Sun today launches a landmark legal bid to force the Parole Board to reveal why it ordered the release of black cab rapist John Worboys.
We have joined the Daily Mail in writing to the board and the Justice Secretary warning them the secretive system protecting a man linked to up to 200 sex attacks must end.
The letter gives officials seven days to say if they will publish the confidential report which led to November’s decision to free one of Britain’s worst sex offenders.
If they refuse to do so, then our lawyers are ready to launch a full judicial review application to have the decision overturned.
The letter says the Parole Board’s report is “integral to the debate on a matter of profound public interest” where there is “overwhelming public concern”.
It warns the decision to keep the Worboys ruling secret is a breach of open justice and freedom of expression. And it concludes: “We require that you publish the decision relating to Mr Worboys.”
Worboys, who has changed his name to John Radford, was convicted of serial sex attacks on 12 women in 2009.
He served less than nine years behind bars before a panel of three lay members — including two women — concluded he was safe to walk the streets.
It left many of his victims terrified, especially if he is released to a halfway house in or near London.
He was driven 200 miles south in a prison van from HMP Wakefield to maximum security Belmarsh jail near Woolwich, South East London.
Victims’ lawyer Richard Scorer, of Slater & Gordon, blasted: “This is extremely distressing for our clients as yet again they have not been informed about developments in the Worboys case.
“It is an insult that they have had to find out from the media of every new development in this case.”
Our campaign comes as victims prepare their own court bid to keep Worboys behind bars. They question what has changed since he was judged too dangerous to be moved to an open prison in 2015.
Meanwhile, in a major breakthrough, the National Probation Service says it will recommend he is banned from London.
However, sources says the Parole Board may limit any ban to “exclusion zones” around a victim’s home and place of work.
In the Commons, Tory MP Zac Goldsmith demanded Justice Secretary David Gauke “do everything in his power” to keep Worboys out of the capital.
Mr Gauke would only say he had asked the “relevant authorities” to ensure the “most stringent conditions were applied”.
Former Cabinet minister Priti Patel demanded dozens of cases not put before court when Worboys was convicted in 2009 be reopened.
She said: “Upon release he should be immediately arrested.
“That way he could be sent back to prison on remand before facing justice for the other crimes he committed and has so far got away with.”
FRESH SEX CLAIM QUIZ
By Mike Sullivan, Crime Editor
A WOMAN has come forward to cops claiming she was sexually assaulted by John Worboys in 1997 — five years before his first known attack.
The new allegation potentially shines fresh light on the scale of his offending — and could keep him behind bars.
Detectives plan to question the ex- taxi driver in jail about the claim.
A source said: “If police quickly charge him with the new offence, he could be kept inside.”
Several women are said to have made fresh allegations against Worboys, 60, since the Parole Board announced he should be released.
The Crown Prosecution Service said: “We are aware of the new allegation and providing early investigative advice.”