http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-42571219John Worboys, thought to be one of the UK's most prolific rapists, 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.
Worboys, now aged 60, 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 other women had come forward and that the suspected
number of his victims now totalled more than 100.
In 2014 Mrs Wistrich's clients won their High Court bid to receive compensation from the Met Police over the way the case was handled.
At the time Mr Justice Green said "systemic" failures in the investigation meant Worboys was not stopped earlier.
Worboys' period on licence lasts for at least 10 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."
Worboys, a former stripper from Rotherhithe, south-east London, 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.
Fay Maxted, 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 she was unaware that his parole hearing had been successful and he was due to be let out.
Harriet Wistrich, a lawyer who represents two of Worboys' victims, said neither woman had received a letter to inform them that the convicted rapist would be released.
Black cab rapist: "I screamed at him to get off me"
Sex attack victims sue cabbie John Worboys and his insurers
Worboys police were 'overworked'
She said one of the women said she should not have had to "receive the news and see his face everywhere while cooking tea for her children".
Mrs Wistrich criticised the original sentence as being too short, saying it was just "one month per sexual assault".
She said: "It feels like another smack in the face, after having spent years battling for justice to [hold] the police to account for failing to investigate, that they've also not had the courtesy to inform her".
Login
Register
FAQ
