John Worboys: Parole Board chair to face MPs over rapist's 'disturbing' release
MPs want the UK's most senior parole official to give evidence on why victims were not told the serial offender was being freed.
Friday 5 January 2018 17:53, UK
Britain's most senior parole official is to face questions from MPs over the "disturbing" release of rapist John Worboys.
Professor Nick Hardwick, chairman of the Parole Board, will be asked why victims were not told the serial sex offender would soon be let out of jail.
He apologised "unreservedly" earlier on Friday to women attacked by the former London cab driver that were "failed by the system".
Worboys was jailed indefinitely in 2009, with a minimum term of eight years, for drugging and sexually assaulting female passengers.
Commons Justice Committee chairman Bob Neill said he would summon Professor Hardwick to assure victims they would be "fully involved in the whole of the process".
Mr Neill announced in a statement: "We will want to ask about how the parole system can be made much more transparent, something Nick Hardwick himself has rightly called for.
"In my view it is ridiculous that the current rules prevent the board making public the reasons for their decisions.
"Professor Hardwick has called for MPs to back 'opening the process up' and we will give him the opportunity to make precisely that case."
The Parole Board chair is facing separate calls from a cross-party group of over 50 MPs to investigate if Worboys' victims were asked to make representations about his upcoming release.
They wrote in a letter: "It is vital that victims of serious sexual assault have confidence not only in the prosecution of such crimes but also the subsequent management of those who are convicted of them."
And Yvette Cooper, chair of the Home Affairs Select Committee, urged the board to explain its reason for allowing Worboys to be released.
Professor Hardwick responded: "I'm not allowed to do that but I hope that 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."
Labour's Sir Keir Starmer is also facing questions over the charges brought against Worboys, as he was the director of public prosecutions at the time of his trial in 2009.
The shadow Brexit secretary refused to comment in detail about the case when approached by Sky News.
Asked whether he thought the right decision was made by prosecutors not to pursue further allegations against Worboys, Sir Keir said: "These decisions were nine years ago. It's very important you go to the Crown Prosecution Service and get an accurate read out of the decisions that were made, particularly if further allegations have been made now."
One of Worboys' victims, whose identity is protected, told Sky News: "I feel shaken up and very upset at the decision."
And the chief executive of Rape Crisis South London has criticised the decision to release him, saying the victims would "never be totally free from his despicable actions".
Yvonne Traynor said: "It feels far too soon for this dangerous and manipulative perpetrator to be released into the public having served this woefully short time in prison."