I’ll stop taxi rapist from walking free
Woman will face Worboys in prison hearing to block parole
ONE of cab rapist John Worboys’ victims has warned she will never stop fighting to keep him in jail.
The woman, who helped change the decision in January to release him, is to face him at another parole hearing.
She said: “Every time he’s up for parole I’ll be there trying to block it.”
A VICTIM of John Worboys has spoken of her determination to stop the black cab rapist from being freed, as she prepares to face him in prison.
And the woman backed our campaign to change the system that appears to give more rights to criminals than those they target.
Known only as DSD for legal reasons, she said a victims law would redress the balance by allowing them a bigger say in how crooks are dealt with at parole.
The woman, who helped block January’s decision to release the 60-year-old sex fiend, plans to be at his review hearing in the coming months to read a statement.
She said: “I have been in court now on and off for 10 years and at some point you have to say enough is enough but it’s never going to be over because every time he’s up for parole I’m going to be there giving a victim impact statement, trying to block it and he comes up for parole every two years. He wants it over, he feels like he has done his time but what about us? We can never turn it off and say right I’ve done my time.
“My whole life has changed as a result of Worboys. I’m sick and tired of thinking about him and worrying if he going to be released. It should have been a case of he goes to prison and he’s forgotten about and it shouldn’t be down to the victims to stop things happening.”
The new law would mean rapists and killers cannot be freed without their victims being told.
It would also include the right to legal aid, which DSD and fellow victim NBV were not entitled to when they launched a judicial review to overturn the parole board’s decision to free Worboys.
They won the review after not being told of his release, 10 years into an indefinite sentence for drugging and attacking 12 women.
She added: “All the way through, each department has been blocking me saying, ‘We can’t do this,’ and then we’ve gone to court and shown actually we can do this.
“The Government is aware how badly the system failed us. A victims law would help to prevent that happening in future.” Speaking of the moment she heard on the radio about the decision to release Londoner Worboys, the mum said: “I felt like I had been kicked in the stomach. I just could not believe this was happening.”
Worboys was never prosecuted over his 2003 attack on DSD, after appalling failings by Scotland Yard.
It was the first time he was reported to police, meaning up to 200 women could have been protected if officers had acted.
They claimed there was no CCTV at the police station where Worboys dropped off DSD and said there was no trace of any drugs in her system when tests showed the opposite.
In 2014, a High Court judge found he did rape DSD, in a ruling on her case against the Met.
DSD and NBV were awarded more than £41,000 compensation but Scotland Yard challenged the move. In February, the Supreme Court ruled the women’s human rights were breached over the “defective” probe.
DSD said that the victims law would prevent a similar scandal as it would include an advocate to check procedures.
She now wants Worboys charged for her attack and added: “I’m angry, not with what happened to me, as it couldn’t have been avoided, it’s all those other women.” The Mirror victims law campaign was launched yesterday.
It is being spearheaded by Plaid Cymru’s Liz Saville Roberts, Harry Fletcher of Victims’ Rights Campaign and Baroness Helen Newlove, widow of dad-of-three Garry, 47, who was kicked to death by a gang of drunken thugs at Warrington, Cheshire, in 2007.
She spoke of her anguish yesterday after it was revealed two of the yobs could be freed next year, 12 years after getting life.
Jordan Cunliffe, 26, and Stephen Sorton, 28, are now in an open prison. Baroness Newlove told how she felt helpless at their parole hearing and believes a victims law would have prevented that.
■ Have you been the victim of serious crime or had a bad experience of the justice system? If so call the Mirror newsdesk on 020 7293 3831 or email mirrornews@mirror.co.uk
It’ll never be over because every time he’s up for parole, I’ll be there DSD ON HER DETERMINATION TO STOP WORBOYS BEING FREED