The Worboys case

There were plenty of representations to the government against the Parole Board decision to let Worboys out of prison soon. The Justice Secretary promised to rewiew the situation to see if he could intervene. He has  now concluded he cannot  mount a successful legal challenge. The Parole Board is an independent body where Ministers do not involve themselves in decisions on individual cases. I assume  the Justice Secretary thinks the Parole Board followed the proper process, even if he along with many other people think they reached the wrong conclusion. Judicial review concentrates on process, not on outcome.

This will  be a disappointing conclusion to the constituents who wrote to me about this case, but they can be assured the government did know the strength of public feeling on this issue.

3 Comments

  1. NHSGP
    January 21, 2018

    You are just offering platitudes, you are not offering to do anything about it.

    Why not (examine failure to prosecute more cases originally? ed)

    Why didn’t he appeal the sentence asking for a longer tariff?

    It is an offence confined to those who are public office holders and is committed when the office holder acts (or fails to act) in a way that constitutes a breach of the duties of that office.

    Why not do the same for the Parole board? For example, why were victims not told and not allowed to make representations? That’s clear grounds for a JR.

    Sorry but you are passing the buck.

    Reply I am not offering platitudes but explaining what has happened.

  2. alan jutson
    January 21, 2018

    Perfectly understand that Politics should not interfere with Justice, but if so many people (including those who matter in Government) were concerned about so called wrong outcomes because a case has not been thought to have been reviewed correctly, then surely those who made the mistake, or who did not request further more detailed information, should be held accountable, and should be removed from post if that is the case, as we do not want repetitions of this type to become the norm.

    Perhaps our sentence review system should be rather more transparent so that more can see exactly why the decision was made.

  3. Dennis
    January 22, 2018

    Apparently the parole hearing are completely open to the public in Canada. They are astounded that this is not the case in the UK.

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