Parole hearing for rapist cab driver to be public

Rapist black-cab driver John Worboys will have his next parole hearing held in public, officials have ruled.

The 68-year-old, now known as John Radford, lured women into his cab late at night, pretended to have won money and offered them an apparently celebratory drink which was drugged.

He was first convicted in 2009 for 19 sexual offences linked to attacks on 12 women between October 2006 and February 2008. He was given an indefinite sentence for public protection with a minimum term of eight years.

In 2019, he was sentenced to life with a minimum term of six years after more victims came forward citing crimes dating between 2000 and 2008, which he admitted.

The victims contacted the police following publicity around a parole board panel decision that he was ready for release following his 2009 conviction. That was overturned after a legal challenge by two of his victims.

The forthcoming hearing will take place in June after professor of criminal law and criminal justice at the University of Sussex, Stephen Shute, successfully applied for the hearing to take place in public. Three out of seven victims consulted by the parole board opposed the move.

Panel chairman Peter Rook KC said while he had "deep sympathy" for the women's fears that they would be retraumatised by publicity, he added: "I have no doubt that it is in the public interest that this case should be a public hearing."

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