A victim of John Worboys has today told of her anger at his upcoming release, saying, ‘It’s a sickening thought he’ll be roaming the streets again’.
A parole board has recommended Worboys be released from a high-security jail just eight years into an indeterminate sentence, in a decision which has caused uproar.
The woman, who cannot be named, said it felt like a ‘betrayal’ that the serial rapist would be set free when his victims would be ‘forever chained to his crimes’.
Speaking to MailOnline, she said: ‘I can’t help but feel that the psychological mind games he won over his victims has gained him freedom here.
‘He positioned himself as the victim and for him to walk free when the real victims in this case will forever remain chained to his crimes feels a betrayal.’
Serial rapist John Worboys is to be freed from jail after just eight years to the fury of victims’ groups and justice campaigners. A mother of one of his victims has warned he’ll attack again
The woman said that although Warboys was a ‘distant memory’ and she had moved away from where she previously lived it was ‘alarming’ he had been let out so soon.
‘Regardless of his parole conditions I don’t think I would feel safe,’ she said. ‘Indeed it’s a really sickening thought that he will be roaming the streets once again.’
The uproar over the Warboys case has led to pressure being put on former Director of Public Prosecutions Sir Keir Starmer to explain why the cab driver was not prosecuted for dozens more sex attacks.
But the Crown Prosecution Service today intervened to defend the Labour frontbencher, saying he did not have ‘any involvement in the decision making’.
It comes after the mother of one of his victims warned that the taxi driver knows where many of the women he attacked live as he dropped them home after carrying out his sickening crimes.
She told MailOnline: ‘I think it’s disgusting. [He’s] a serial rapist and he knows where she lives.
‘I wouldn’t trust him as far as I could throw him. He could start all over again.’
The victim’s mother added: ‘People like that are a danger. He’s never going to change. It’s in him.
‘He was a coward to drug them after pretending he’d won the lottery and that he wanted them to celebrate with him.
‘There’ll be a lot of people who never came forward who are ashamed and who blame themselves for drinking or who don’t want their husband to know.
‘My daughter never really spoke to me much about it. I think she felt ashamed.
‘He treated her like a piece of dirt. I felt so sorry for her. She’s really strong and she’s a really nice person.
‘She’d said she thought he seemed like a really nice guy. She’ll never make that mistake again.
‘I don’t think that she’s heard that he’s being freed. I’m sure she’d have told me or I’d have been able to tell from her mood.
‘But she’s seemed so normal, there’s no way she could have known that.’
Worboys picked up women in his cab before drugging them with champagne and attacking
Police found a rape kit in the back of Worboys’ taxi which including sleeping tablets, condoms and an ashtray he used to crush the drugs (top right)
The victim’s mother spoke as:
- It emerged Worboys will be transferred to a bail hostel later this month.
- The chairman of the Parole Board apologised to victims who were not told of Worboys imminent release.
- The parole chief admitted that changes need to be made to the system to allow greater access to secretive parole decisions.
- He’ll be summoned before MPs to explain the rationale for freeing the sex attacker.
- It emerged two of Worboys’ victims, left ‘shocked and horrified’ by his imminent release, are awaiting a Supreme Court ruling relating to police human rights breaches during the investigation.
- The former Director of Public Prosecutions and Attorney General from the time of Worboys’ conviction faced questions over why more wasn’t done to secure a longer sentence.
Worboys, who became known as the ‘black cab rapist’, was found guilty of 19 charges of drugging and sexually assaulting 12 women passengers, in one case raping a woman.
But police said in 2010 that his alleged victims numbered 102 after more people came forward following his trial and conviction and it is feared he may have many more.
Worboys was jailed for raping and sexually assaulting passengers in 2009. His ex wife Jean Clayton (pictured, right, at their wedding in 1991) slammed the decision to free her ex-husband
The allegations were investigated but no further action was taken on the advice of the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), police said.
Director of public prosecutions at the time of Worboys’ conviction, Labour’s Sir Keir Starmer, urged any alleged victims with concerns about how their case was handled to contact the police.
Speaking outside his home in north London, the shadow Brexit secretary said the Crown Prosecution Service holds the file on the case, and made the decisions.
Asked whether he thought the right decision was made by prosecutors not to pursue further allegations against the serial sex attacker, he said: ‘I think these decisions were nine years ago and 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.’
He refused to answer further questions about why past cases were not brought to trial.
Worboys is a former porn actor and stripper who called himself Terry the Minder (left). Shown right, the Hackney flat Worboys shared with his former wife Jean Clayton
The Parole Board’s decision sparked an outcry from charities and support groups when it was made public on Thursday.
Charity campaigners have called the time served by the 60-year-old ‘woefully short’ and said his release ‘beggars belief’.
Rape Crisis England and Wales said Worboys’ case ‘reflects more broadly the very serious failures in the criminal justice system when it comes to sexual offences’.
Victim Carrie Symonds was singled out as she waited for a night bus in Chelsea in July 2007
Meanwhile, Worboys’ ex-wife, Jean Clayton, told the Sun he should ‘never be let out’.
The chairman of the Parole Board Professor Nick Hardwick will be summoned before MPs to explain how the decision to free the serial sex attacker.
Professor Hardwick has apologised ‘unreservedly’ over the failure to inform Worboys’ victims of his imminent release, something he will also be questioned about by the House of Commons Justice Committee.
He said he fully accepts there was a problem with the parole system, and that it was believed the victims had been informed before the decision was issued.
Chairman of the committee, Conservative MP Bob Neill, said: ‘What has happened here is very disturbing. It is vital that the public has confidence in Parole Board decisions.’
Mr Neill added: ‘We will also 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.’
Former Director of Public Prosecutions Keir Starmer dodged questions over the case today
Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme on Friday, Prof Hardwick said he is still trying to establish precisely what happened and does not want to ‘blame anybody yet’.
He said it was not the Parole Board’s responsibility to inform victims, and added: ‘Whoever’s fault it was, I fully accept this was a problem with (the) parole system.
‘I’m chair of the Parole Board, this would have been absolutely horrible for those two women concerned, and I apologise for it unreservedly.’
Specialist abuse lawyer Richard Scorer from Slater Gordon said the firm represented 11 of Worboys’ victims and claimed they were devastated.
‘Our clients have been left devastated by the shocking news that a man who mercilessly raped scores of women, denied his heinous crimes and then forced them to endure the torment of a criminal trial is to be released,’ he said.
‘For victims not be told that he is to be freed by the Parole Board adds insult to injury.
‘When we visited Worboys in jail he was clearly a very manipulative and dangerous individual.
‘We are concerned he may have fooled the board into believing he is no longer a threat.
‘For many years after he was convicted he continued to deny even the offences for which he was found guilty.
‘The Parole Board must now reveal publicly whether Worboys has finally admitted his crimes and shown any remorse whatsoever.
‘If he still denies his crimes, then he clearly poses a continuing risk to women.
‘If he now admits that he deliberately and systematically drugged and raped women, then the police need to look at whether there are any crimes that he was not convicted of and seek justice for those victims.’
Lawyer Harriet Wistrich said two victims she has represented had not been informed of Worboys’ imminent release or of his Parole Board hearing.
She told the Press Association they are both ‘shocked and horrified by this news’.
It is understood that all those who were signed up to the Victim Contact Scheme were informed as soon as the Parole Board decision was made.
A Ministry of Justice spokesman described Worboys’ crimes as ‘truly horrendous’ and extended their thoughts to the victims for the ‘pain and suffering they have endured’.
He said it is ‘right’ that victims decide whether and how they want to be kept updated, and that some in the cases chose not to be.
‘Others chose to be informed by phone or email and were contacted immediately; others chose to be informed by letters which were sent straight away, but of course take longer,’ he added.
‘Our priority is to support victims and it is right that we respect their decisions about how they are contacted.’
A Metropolitan Police spokesman said: ‘We worked closely with the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) throughout the case of John Worboys.
‘Liaison with the CPS continued post-trial, when the Met received allegations from a further 19 women. Each individual allegation was recorded and investigated.
‘In June 2009 the CPS were notified of the additional complaints and they provided written advice in response.
‘Each allegation was assessed by police against this advice and a decision was taken by police not to proceed. All 19 complainants were notified.’