The mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, is launching legal action to challenge the Parole Board over its decision to release the black-cab rapist John Worboys.



The decision to intervene in the high-profile case comes days after two victims of the serial sex attacker started a crowdfunding appeal for a similar legal challenge against his release from prison.

In a statement on Thursday afternoon, Khan said: “I have today lodged with the court an application for judicial review of the Parole Board’s decision to release the convicted rapist John Worboys. It was an astonishing and deeply concerning decision that simply cannot go unchallenged. For victims, and all Londoners, it must be properly scrutinised in the courts. The chair of the Parole Board has welcomed this scrutiny.

“I will always put the safety of Londoners, and the needs of victims, first – which is why I instructed leading counsel to begin this process last week. Londoners need to know that those in authority are doing everything they can to keep them safe and that means keeping dangerous individuals off our streets.”

The recently appointed justice secretary, David Gauke, announced 10 days ago that the Ministry of Justice would launch a similar judicial review of the decision, but dropped it a week later.



The Metropolitan police has confirmed that a fresh complaint of sexual assault against Worboys dating from 2009 had been received in the past few weeks and is being investigated. Worboys, 60, was moved to Belmarsh prison in London last weekend, and his release is expected in the next few weeks.

Harriet Wistrich, who represents two of Worboys’ victims, said she had also lodged an application for a judicial review of the Parole Board decision at the high court in London. The application includes a request for a stay of the release of Worboys pending the outcome of the proceedings.

Wistrich, a solicitor at the law firm Birnberg Peirce, revealed that a dossier of unreported cases and cases reported but not prosecuted would be presented to the police and the Crown Prosecution Service in an attempt to bring fresh charges.

Her law firm’s claim is based on the grounds that rule 25 of the Parole Board prohibits the publication of any reasons for its decisions and is unlawful because it undermines the fundamental principle of open justice.



Wistrich said the second ground was that the decision to release Worboys after 10 years was irrational because of his long history of cold, calculated attacks on a large number of women, his failure to acknowledge his guilt until very recently – if at all – and the fact he has remained in a high-security prison without being tested in open conditions. She said the Parole Board decided it was unsafe to transfer him as recently as two years ago.

Wistrich said she had been contacted by a number of other victims. Her dossier includes “two previously unreported cases from 2002 and 2003 and two cases that were investigated by the police that would pass the evidential threshold but have not been prosecuted”.

The supreme court is still due to rule on civil claims for damages against the Metropolitan police over failures in the investigation brought by the two victims represented by Wistrich

Both women were assured that Worboys would not be released for a very long time. Neither women were contacted about the parole process and the first they learned of the decision to release him was on 4 January when it was reported in the media.

Prof Nick Hardwick, who chairs the Parole Board, has acknowledged that there is “a lack of transparency” in the organisation’s processes and is proposing changes.

