MPs fear for women's safety after John Worboys' release

John Worboys was jailed in 2009 for a string of sex attacks on women in his taxi

The Home Office has been asked to guarantee that women will be safe after the Parole Board's decision to release serial sex attacker John Worboys.

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.

Conservative MP Anna Soubry called on Home Secretary Amber Rudd to confirm women will be safe when he is released.

Ms Rudd said women's safety is a government "priority".

Worboys, 60, gave his victims drug-laced champagne before attacking them in the back of his cab.

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The former stripper from Rotherhithe, south-east London, was convicted of 19 offences and jailed for a minimum of eight years in 2009.

After a hearing in November, the Parole Board decided to approve his release with "stringent" licence conditions.

Speaking in the House of Commons, former minister Ms Soubry voiced fears women could be unsafe when Worboys is freed.

She said: "What assurances can the Home Secretary give us that upon his release, if he has to be released I may say, women will be safe?"

Ms Rudd responded: "Making women safe and ensuring that we have the legislation in place for that is a priority for me and for this government."

The Labour former minister Yvette Cooper raised her concerns when she asked of the Home Secretary: "Can she say whether she has had any contact with the police about whether they are able to further pursue the cases of 19 women who came forward after the conviction took place and to see whether they can be prosecuted to see whether justice can be done and women kept safe?"

Ms Rudd said: "I am aware of certain victims who are talking about possible judicial reviews and talking to the police.

"I don't think I can say at this point any more than that because it will be, it is, subject to potential legal proceedings."