High Court quashes "black cab rapist" parole decision
The High Court in London has quashed the decision of the Parole Board for England & Wales to release John Worboys, the "black cab rapist".
Board chairman Nick Hardwick had resigned from his post by the time the decision was announced this morning.
Worboys, now known as John Radford, has served 10 years of an indeterminate prison sentence following his conviction on 19 charges including drugging, sexual assault and rape, but he is believed to have committed sexual assaults against more than 100 women between 2002 and 2008.
Some of his victims were told he would serve a life sentence, and after the decision to release him was revealed, two of them sought a judicial review of the decision, along with the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan.
Although the release was made subject to "stringent" conditions, the case alleged that Radford had not been honest with the Parole Board in claiming he was a changed man, and further that the wider allegations against him should have been taken into account.
In today's decision the court held that Mr Khan, who clamed that he was acting to protect the people of London, did not have sufficient standing to seek a review. The standing of the victims was not disputed.
The judges, Mr Justice May and Mr Justice Garnham, further held that rule 25 of the Parole Board rules, which prevents information about proceedings under the rules from being made public, was ultra vires and should be quashed in the interests of open justice. It also annulled the release decision and ordered a fresh hearing by a different panel.
On the decision itself, the court rejected a challenge founded on irrationality but held that the Ministry of Justice should have done more to put relevant material to the Parole Board, and that the Board should have undertaken further inquiry into the circumstances of Radford's offending and, in particular, the extent to which the limited way in which he had described his offending might undermine his overall credibility and reliability. That was so even in relation to the offences of which he was convicted, let alone any other offending.
It emphasised that it was not to be understood as suggesting that Radfiord's continued imprisonment was necessary for the protection of the public, which was a decision for the Board alone to make.
In his resignation letter Mr Hardwick said he had been told by Justice Secretary David Gauke that his position was "untenable", and apologised for mistakes that had been made in this case.
Welcoming the decision, the Justice Secretary said the court had found for the victims on grounds other than those on which he had himself been urged to bring proceedings, and that the victims were better placed to bring the argument that succeeded. He continued: "Given the very serious issues identified in this case, I can announce today that I intend to conduct further work to examine the Parole Board rules in their entirety.
"As a result of the work that has been completed to date, I have already decided to abolish rule 25 and will do so as soon as possible after the Easter recess. This will enable us to provide for the Parole Board to make available summaries of the decisions they make to victims."