'Black cab rapist' John Worboys to be freed from jail

Image copyright Metropolitan Police

One of the UK's most prolific rapists, John Worboys, is to be freed from jail.

The black-cab driver is believed to have carried out more than 100 rapes and sexual assaults on women in London between 2002 and 2008.

The 60-year-old from Rotherhithe, south-east London, gave his victims drug-laced Champagne before attacking them in the back of his cab.

In 2009, he was convicted at Croydon Crown Court of 19 offences and ordered to serve at least eight years in jail.

The following year police said a number of women had come forward since he was found guilty, and that his alleged victims now numbered more than 100.

It is thought Worboys, a former stripper, has spent 10 years in custody including a period on remand.

After a hearing about his case in November, the Parole Board decided to approve his release with "stringent" licence conditions.

He will have to report to probation staff every week and is barred from contacting any of his victims.

'Deliberate and calculated'

Fay Maxted OBE, the CEO of The Survivors Trust, said Worboys' release was "very frightening and worrying for his victims."

She said: "He's served his sentence and will be on a stringent licence. But for his victims there will be no parole, there is no let off for what he has done to them.

"When you are raped, or sexually assaulted in this way, there is no way to recover, especially when these attacks were so deliberate and calculated."

One of Worboys' victims told BBC News they were unaware that his parole hearing had been successful and he was due to be let out.

Worboys' period on licence lasts for at least ten years and he can be sent back to jail if he breaches the conditions.

The Parole Board said in a statement: "We can confirm that a three-member panel of the Parole Board has directed the release of Mr John Worboys, following an oral hearing."

'Appalling' crimes

At his trial, jurors heard Worboys picked up his victims in the capital's West End and gave them Champagne laced with sedatives, claiming he had won the lottery or had won money at casinos.

He was convicted of one rape, five sexual assaults, one attempted assault and 12 drugging charges.

In 2010 Worboys had an appeal against his conviction thrown out by the Court of Appeal, where Lord Justice Moses labelled his offences as "appalling".

Malcolm Fowler QC - a retired solicitor of 48 years - said Worboys "would be anything but a free man" on his release from prison.

He added: "The judge said he was going to serve at least eight years, and he has served a little more than that.

"The decisions to release someone are normally very extensive and not one which is taken lightly.

"Worboys is not walking a free man from prison. He is going to be on a very conscious monitoring system, and rightly so."

The Metropolitan Police said it would not be commenting on Worboys' release.