Significant developments in the John Worboys story this afternoon. It has been revealed that the sex attacker’s victims have not yet been allowed to make representations to the Parole Board about his licence conditions, despite the meeting to finalise the conditions taking place tomorrow. Richard Scorer, a specialist abuse lawyer from Slater and Gordon, which represented 11 of Worboys’ victims, is demanding to know why victims have received no notification of the meeting and insisting a ban is imposed on Worboys visiting Greater London. He has issued this extraordinarily damning statement accusing the criminal justice system of treating victims with “contempt“:

“It is unbelievable that Worboys’ victims have not been consulted on their attacker’s licence conditions when they are living in fear of his release. Considering the shambles of this sorry episode so far it is inexcusable that all victims have not been asked to make representations about his restrictions. Our clients already felt betrayed by the way they have been treated by the criminal justice system; they now feel like they are being treated with the utmost contempt. This is an absolute disgrace and we demand that all victims – those involved in the criminal trial and those who were not – are consulted before Worboys’ licence conditions are finalised.”

How can it be that victims have not yet been consulted on the conditions of Worboys’ licence? The Ministry of Justice is handling this spectacularly badly – they need to get a grip, it is in danger of blowing up into a national scandal…

UPDATE: A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said:

“The licence conditions for John Worboys have not been finalised, and he will not be released until victims have had an opportunity to make representations to the Parole Board on his licence conditions.”