Leading barrister in Worboys judicial review bid replaced after three weeks of tax payer funded work on case

Fears over the prospects of a challenge against the release of rapist cabbie John Worboys have been raised after London Mayor Sadiq Khan sacked one of the barristers hired to present the case.

Mr Khan was accused of wasting taxpayers money and risking the chances of Worboys’ victims getting justice following the decision.

A hearing to press for a judicial review of the decision to free Worboys from prison after serving 10 years for drugging and sexually assaulting female passengers is to be held next week.

Last Friday Mr Justice Supperstone granted an urgent application to delay his release until the further hearing could be held to decide whether the legal challenge should be allowed to go ahead.

Mr Khan, along with two of Worboys’ victims, are pressing for a full judicial review of the Parole Board decision to release the rapist and for full disclosure of the 360-page dossier that led to their recommendation that he was no longer a risk to the public.

But it has now emerged that the Mayoral team decided to replace John Cooper QC, the barrister leading their side’s presentation of Mr Khan’s case, despite him having spent the past three weeks preparing for the hearing Wednesday’s hearing.

Mr Cooper, described by the lawyers’ bible, the Legal 500, as having “forensic skills of the highest order” and “an expert in crime related matters”, has been replaced with Dan Squires QC from Matrix Chambers.

Matrix happens to also be the chambers of Mr Khan’s deputy mayor with responsibility for social integration and mobility, Matthew Ryder QC.

Mr Cooper also has experience of judicial reviews, including cases involving the Government's deal with the DUP, the inquest into the death of weapons expert Dr David Kelly, the badger cull and the Deepcut inquest.

But it is understood he was initially instructed in the Worboys case because the Mayor's legal advisors wanted a QC with significant criminal law experience as well as that of judicial review.

Mr Cooper, a visiting Professor of Law at Cardiff University and a Master of the Bench at Middle Temple, says he was given no reason for being replaced.

He told The Daily Telegraph: "Despite the Mayors Legal Department being extremely happy with my work over the last three weeks, which had involved working into the early hours to get the matter case ready, I was surprised when the Mayor instructed them to sack me for no reason and to transfer the case to Matrix Chambers after I had all but completed my preparation for the hearing next week.”

He added: “Nevertheless I wish them well in a case which they should do well in."

Mr Khan described the decision to free Worboys as “astonishing and deeply concerning” which “simply cannot go unchallenged”.

He added: “For victims, and all Londoners, it must be properly scrutinised in the courts.”

But there are now fears that sacking Mr Cooper could set back preparation to challenge the decision.

Legal experts warned that the High Court is unlikely to grant the Mayor’s legal side more time to prepare, leaving it at a potential disadvantage while at the same time being forced to pay two sets of legal fees.

The Mayor’s office will still have to pay Mr Cooper for the past three weeks’ work, on top of the fees to be submitted by Mr Squires.

“The Court will not grant adjournments. In the exceptional cases they do they often award costs against the party causing it,” said one London lawyer.

Questions are also likely to be raised as to why the Mayor’s office hired Mr Cooper in the first place, if they felt he was the wrong man for the job.

Worboys, 60, a former male stripper from Rotherhithe, south east London, was convicted of 19 offences against 12 victims between 2002 and 2008, but is suspected of being linked to more than 100 attacks.

He has been reportedly transferred from HMP Wakefield in West Yorkshire to HMP Belmarsh and on his release is expected to spend several months at a probation hostel, which is staffed 24 hours a day and imposes a night-time curfew.

The Mayor’s office said the decision to replace Mr Cooper had been taken by the Mayor’s legal team, headed by his general counsel, Howard Carter, at Transport for London.

A spokesman dismissed accusations of nepotism, stating: “We’re confident there will be no delay to the case. It’s quite normal to change barrister for different elements of a case.

“The change was made before the first hearing and was entirely based on the expertise and experience required for different elements of the case. Dan Squires and Matrix chambers are specialists in this area of law.”