‘The decision of the Divisional Court in the matter of R (DSD and NVB) v Parole Board of England and Wales, or the “Worboys Parole Board” case, was described by the Court as “wholly exceptional”, [3]. The Court, comprising Sir Brian Leveson, Mr Justice Jay and Mr Justice Garnham, quashed the decision of the Parole Board to release John Worboys, the “black cab rapist”. However, the “exceptional” nature of the case and its facts led the court into some rather tortured reasoning that undermines the structure and integrity of UK public law substantive review. The decision not to let Worboys, now known as John Radford, onto the streets after 9 years imprisonment likely represented the correct outcome, but the way the court got to this conclusion will make life notably more difficult for Parole Boards in exercising their duties in future. Such an outcome is all the more frustrating since the Divisional Court had a perfectly workable alternative means to securing this outcome: through the use of the “Public Sector Equality Duty” (PSED) found in s.149 of the Equality Act 2010.’
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UK Constitutional Law Association, 7th September 2018
Source: ukconstitutionallaw.org
