LONDON Mayor Sadiq Khan has slammed officials who agreed to release serial rapist John Worboys after serving his time in prison.
The black-cab driver is believed to have carried out more than 100 rapes and sexual assaults on women in the capital between 2002 and 2008.
Now aged 60, Worboys 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 elast eight years in jail.
He has since served a total of ten years behind bars, including time on remand, and following a parole hearing has been approved for release back into society.
It is claimed his victims have not been informed of his impending release.
Responding to the news today, London Mayor Sadiq Khan said: "The grotesque crimes of John Worboys shocked Londoners and destroyed many women’s lives.
“The confidence of many of his victims, and others, in the justice system was already pretty low, given the bungled police investigation at the time and what was seen by many as too lenient a sentence for such a grim catalogue of crimes.
“But now this has been compounded by the Parole Board’s decision to release John Worboys and, to make matters worse, it appears some of his victims were not even informed of his release. Not only is this inconsiderate, unsympathetic and inhumane it constitutes a clear breach of the Victims’ code."
He added: “Too often victims are at best treated as an afterthought, or ignored altogether and this seems to have happened again in this case. This must stop and the Government needs to urgently investigate why the Victims’ code processes failed.
“Public confidence in our criminal justice system is crucial, and victims and the public still need answers from the police and the CPS about the flawed investigation and prosecution. The Parole Board must reconsider their decision to release this man. They also need to be open and transparent about why they reached their decision and explain these further failings."
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.
Fay Maxted, the CEO of The Survivors Trust, told BBC News that 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."
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