Sir Keir Starmer was facing serious questions last night over the decision not to prosecute John Worboys over dozens more sex attacks.
The Labour frontbencher was accused of ignoring scores of women who came forward after the taxi driver’s conviction in March 2009.
Sir Keir – now Shadow Brexit Secretary – was then the country’s top prosecutor.
Sir Keir Starmer, failed to prosecute John Worboys over dozens of more sex attacks
Baroness Scotland, who was the Labour Attorney General could have used her powers to refer the lenient sentence back to the courts
The then Labour Attorney General, Baroness Scotland of Asthal also failed to use her powers to refer the lenient sentence back to the courts.
According to The Times, Lady Scotland ‘considered the case in detail’ before deciding against appealing the leniency of the sentence.
Worboys, a former stripper and porn actor, was convicted of attacking 12 women. He was jailed indefinitely after being found guilty of one rape and 11 sexual assaults. Many of his victims were young women who he picked up and plied with champagne spiked with powerful sedatives, claiming he was celebrating a lottery win.
At the time of his conviction, 83 women had come forward with complaints against him. Another 19 have come forward since then.
But the Crown Prosecution Service declined to bring any more charges – despite Scotland Yard passing files on the cases to prosecutors. Instead the CPS ordered ‘no further action’ (NFA).
At the time, Sir Keir was head of the CPS as Director of Public Prosecutions. It is not known whether he was personally involved in the decision not to prosecute, but it was one of the most high-profile cases the CPS dealt with at the time.
Last night, Sir Keir refused to comment on the row.
John Worboys, pictured, was jailed for a minimum of eight-and-a-half years in 2009
It is understood that one reason for the NFA decision was that Worboys had been given an indefinite prison sentence by the judge at his trial.
But critics last night said that if he had been hauled back to court to face more charges and was found guilty, he might have been kept behind bars for longer.
Criticising Sir Keir, Conservative MP Priti Patel said: ‘This is an appalling reflection on someone who is now a Labour shadow minister of their “soft on crime” stance and lack of interest in wanting to prosecute such horrendous crimes against women … because Worboys was in prison. There are serious questions to answer as to why this was not taken further, why he failed to look into the allegations and why he failed to act.’
A senior Whitehall source said: ‘If Worboys had been ordered to stand trial for more attacks, it is possible he would have been convicted and given a longer sentence. That means many victims would not have been denied justice … Hopefully, for the sake of the victims, Sir Keir might provide the answers.’
A spokesman for Sir Keir said: ‘We will not be commenting. Sir Keir’s position, as it always has been, is not to comment on cases from his time as DPP.’
A Scotland Yard spokesman said of the accusations following Worboys’s conviction: ‘All allegations were investigated and on the advice of the CPS all were subsequently NFA’d. Victims were fully appraised of the situation at the time.’
Yvonne Traynor, of Rape Crisis South London, 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 … the women he raped will never be totally free from his despicable actions.’
In 2014, Women Against Rape accused Sir Keir of ‘building a career as the victims’ champion’, while presiding over the CPS when more vulnerable women and girls were being prosecuted.