England: Parole Board asked to explain release of ‘Black Cab Rapist’

The Parole Board for England and Wales is facing calls to explain how it decided to allow serial rapist John Worboys to leave prison.

A three-member panel has directed the release of Mr Worboys on license following an oral hearing.

Labour MP Yvette Cooper, chairman of the Home Affairs Select Committee, has called on the Board to publish its reasoning.

Mr Worboys, also known as the “Black Cab Rapist”, was convicted at Croydon Crown Court in 2009 following sex attacks on 12 women who were passengers in his taxi between July 2007 and February 2008.

Mr Justice Penry-Davey handed down an indeterminate sentence of at least eight years and said Mr Worboys would not be released until the Parole Board decided he no longer presented a threat to women.

Following his conviction, the Metropolitan Police received further complaints from over 100 women in London and Dorset who say they were attacked by him, though no further prosecutions were brought.

A number of victims’ groups and charities have condemned the decision to allow Mr Worboys to leave prison on license.

Professor Nick Hardwick, chair of the Board, said the Board considered “a whole range of evidence in coming to our decision”, but accepted that the process could be more transparent.

He added: “We will shortly be launching a public consultation about how we share our decision-making with the public.

“One good thing that might come out of this is that I hope that parliamentarians will see the need for change and we will get some backing for plans to open the parole system up.

“I mean I agree with what people are saying, for justice to be done it needs to be seen to be done.

“The Parole Board is much too closed a process. I want to open it up and I’d welcome the backing of MPs to do that.”