Gauke was ‘spineless’ over Worboys
Tory MP among many to condemn minister for failing to challenge rapist’s release from jail
THE Justice Secretary was branded “spineless” last night by a former Tory minister after abandoning his legal attempt to keep John Worboys, the black cab rapist, in jail.
Nick Boles, a Conservative MP and former minister, launched a withering attack on David Gauke, who is also Lord Chancellor, for dropping the legal challenge.
Mr Boles also questioned the failure of Theresa May to intervene and force through a judicial review of the Parole Board’s decision to free Worboys.
Mr Boles said: “I just think it is wet. I don’t care what the legal advice is. I expect the Government to fight for its convictions. The Worboys decision demonstrates a disgraceful lack of spine on behalf of ministers.
“I don’t think the Prime Minister needs to intervene because the Justice Secretary should have the courage of his convictions, but somebody in Number 10 needed to help to get him over the line.”
Mr Gauke announced yesterday that he would not be pursuing a judicial review of the decision to release Worboys. “I understand that some will be disappointed in my decision, but I have acted swiftly to ensure this issue is examined and, hopefully, provide some clarity for victims,” he said.
He said independent legal advice had prevented him interfering, but declined to say why. Instead he ordered a wide-ranging review that would include looking at ways of appealing Parole Board rulings in the future.
Victims and their lawyers reacted angrily to Mr Gauke’s announcement. Two victims will now attempt to bring their own judicial review in a last-ditch attempt to keep Worboys, accused of raping or assaulting more than 100 women, in prison.
By last night, the Centre for Women’s Justice had raised £30,000 – out of £50,000 required – through an internet appeal to fund a High Court challenge.
Sadiq Khan, the Mayor of London, said he was also instructing lawyers to launch his own legal bid to overturn the Parole Board decision.
The father of one of Worboys’s victims said his daughter had been sent into “freefall” after hearing there would be no judicial review.
He said: “This decision means my daughter and all the other victims are being condemned to prison sentences for the rest of their lives. My daughter is terrified.
“We have heard there is a possibility that he won’t be barred from London and now my daughter can’t stop worrying about the prospect of running into him. She has been in freefall ever since hearing that he was getting out.”
Worboys was given an indeterminate sentence in 2009 and ordered to serve a minimum eight years in jail for the rape, sexual assault and drugging of 12 victims across 19 different offences.
Police believe he committed more than 100 rapes and sexual assaults while working as a London taxi driver – but only a sample could be brought to trial.
Victims were led to believe Worboys would never be allowed out, only for the Parole Board to conclude at the end of last year that, at the age of 60 and having undergone a sex offenders’ treatment course, he no longer posed a danger to the public.
Richard Scorer, a specialist abuse lawyer at Slater and Gordon, which represented 11 of Worboys’s victims, said: “It is crucial that the decision to release this manipulative, calculating and dangerous man can be considered by the courts as soon as possible.
“It is also imperative that the failure to prosecute more cases against Worboys is re-examined.”
Yvette Cooper, the Labour MP and chairman of the home affairs select committee, said the decision was “very disappointing”.
Mr Khan said: “The decision by the Parole Board to release John Worboys is astonishing and it is extremely disappointing that the Government is accepting this without challenge. I won’t.
“I am deeply concerned and unhappy about the prospect of John Worboys’s impending release.”
Mr Gauke told MPS in a Commons statement: “I have made clear that I will not bring a legal challenge to the Parole Board’s decision unless there is a reasonable prospect of success. Having taken on considered and expert legal advice, I have decided it would not be appropriate for me as Secretary of State to proceed with such a case.”