Parole Board Denies Release of Serial Rapist John Worboys

A parole board panel refused to release John Worboys, the serial rapist serving a life sentence for drugging and sexually assaulting women he lured into his taxi at night. The 68-year-old, now known as John Radford, continues to represent a high risk of committing further serious sexual offenses upon women, the board said in a decision published Thursday.

Worboys accepts that he does not currently meet the test for release. He claimed to feel enormous regret, remorse and shame toward the women he has harmed and their families and friends.

He was first convicted in 2009 of 19 sexual offenses linked to attacks on 12 women between October 2006 and February 2008. He received an indefinite sentence for public protection with a minimum term of eight years.

In 2019, he was sentenced to life with a minimum term of six years after admitting to additional crimes from 2000 to 2008. More victims came forward following publicity over a parole board decision that he was ready for release; that ruling was overturned after a legal challenge by two victims.

The exact number of victims is expected to be much higher. A 2019 report from his prison psychologist noted that he accepted preying on 90 individuals.

Carrie Johnson, who encountered Worboys as a student, spoke of her relief at the decision. "Women and girls across Britain are safer as a result," she said.

Thursday's decision came behind closed doors despite an earlier ruling for a public hearing. Worboys indicated he did not wish to make a premature application for release, so the panel handled the matter via paper review.

A parole board spokesperson said the panel was not satisfied that he no longer posed a risk to the public and did not direct his release.

"It has been a hugely anxious wait knowing that Worboys was up for parole again," Carrie Johnson, wife of former Prime Minister Boris Johnson, wrote on X after the decision. "The relief I feel knowing that he will remain behind bars is hard to put into words."

She recounted in the Times in 2018 that at age 19, while waiting for a night bus in Richmond, southwest London, Worboys offered her a lift home for whatever change she had. In the back of his cab, he gave her a glass of champagne, which she poured away when he was not looking. But he insisted she drink a shot of vodka, after which she could hardly remember a thing.