Black cab rapist John Worboys to face public parole hearing

Black cab rapist John Worboys will face a public parole hearing in his latest bid to be released from prison.

The 68-year-old, who changed his name in prison to John Radford, was first jailed in 2009 for 19 sex offences against 12 women between 2006 and 2008. In 2017, the Parole Board controversially said Worboys could be freed from prison, but the decision was reversed after a landmark legal challenge by two of his victims.

Amid the public outrage, rules were changed to allow some parole hearings to be held in public to open up the process to more scrutiny. Following the publicity, Worboys was handed two life sentences, with a minimum term of six years, in December 2019 after four other victims came forward, as a judge found he posed an ongoing danger to women.

Police previously said they believe the former male stripper committed offences against more than 100 women before he was caught. In a decision published on Wednesday, Peter Rook KC, on behalf of the chair of the Parole Board, said Worboys will face a public parole hearing on 9 and 10 June.

"Proceedings are likely to include discussion about allegations that Mr Worboys has carried out serious sexual assaults for which he has not been convicted," he said. Worboys, from Enfield, north London, gained notoriety as the black cab rapist after attacking women in his Hackney carriage.

He often claimed to have scooped a windfall on the lottery or at the horses, showing his victims a bag of cash and offering them champagne, which had been laced with drugs. A Parole Board panel will decide if Category A prisoner Worboys is safe to be released, or could recommend a move to an open jail.

Most parole hearings are held in private, with the Worboys case to be the twelfth to be heard in public since 2022. The document outlining the decision states all the victims registered with the probation's contact scheme have been contacted, seven of whom responded.

Four supported or were neutral about the hearing taking place in public, while three were "strongly opposed.