Let victims attend hearings over their attacker's freedom, Ex-Parole Board chief urges

Victims should be able to attend hearings that decide whether their attackers are freed from prison as part of a major shake-up of the Parole Board system in the wake of the John Worboys case, the organisation’s former head said today.

Nick Hardwick said that “justice needs to be seen to be done” and that it was no longer acceptable for decisions on the release of prisoners to be “shrouded in secrecy” as current rules required.

He said that the Government should give the Parole Board the ability to publish “comprehensive explanations” of its decisions, as well as the evidence it had considered.

In an article for the Standard, he added that panels making such decisions should be able to “admit victims, media and others” to attend their hearings in a further move to boost transparency.

Professor Hardwick’s comments follow the controversy over the decision taken in secret late last year by a Parole Board panel to clear John Worboys for release despite his conviction in 2009 for 19 offences against 12 women.

Three senior judges ruled last month, in response to a challenge by two victims, that the decision had been taken unlawfully and that a new hearing should take place.

As a result Professor Hardwick was forced to resign by Justice Secretary David Gauke, who is preparing new rules on how Parole Board hearings should be conducted and publicised. The proposals are due to be published shortly.