Blame me for Worboys fiasco, says Gauke
THE Justice Secretary has admitted that he was ultimately to blame for the John Worboys fiasco which almost let the black cab rapist walk free from jail.
David Gauke told The Sun on Sunday that a review of how the Parole Board operates would make it “more transparent”, following criticism over the way Worboys’s case was handled.
There was widespread criticism earlier this year when it emerged that a three-person panel had decided that the 60-year-old serial sex attacker was safe to be freed after around a decade behind bars.
That decision was later blocked following a High Court challenge brought on behalf of two of his victims after the Government decided not to oppose the Parole Board’s ruling.
Mr Gauke, who became Justice Secretary in January, told the newspaper that he shouldered the blame for this decision.
He said: “Clearly, things didn’t go as they should have gone. Look, I made the decision. I accept responsibility, so I’m not hiding behind my advisers. It’s my responsibility entirely.”
Worboys became known as the black cab rapist after attacking victims in his hackney carriage.
He was jailed indefinitely in 2009 with a minimum term of eight years after being found guilty of 19 offences, including rape, sexual assault and drugging, committed against 12 victims. Police believe he committed crimes against 105 women between 2002 and 2008, when he was caught.
The three leading judges who blocked the release said the public had a right to know about Parole Board decisions. At the March hearing Sir Brian Leveson said there were “clear and obvious reasons” why the board should provide information about its decisions on long-term prisoners. He said this could be done in a way which did not undermine a prisoner’s rights or the confidential nature of Parole Board hearings, which “quite properly” take place in private.
Prof Nick Hardwick, the Parole Board chairman, announced he was standing down after being told by Mr Gauke that his position was “untenable” in the wake of the High Court ruling.
Mr Gauke said in March that a new mechanism to challenge Parole Board decisions would be created as part of a major shake-up in the wake of the case.
He said: “We’re looking at all the rules. We must be sure with a particularly sensitive case we have people on the panel who can be sufficiently probing and ask tough questions.”