Black cab rapist John Worboys 'delighted' after being told he may be leaving jail for secure hospital

Black cab rapist John Worboys is said to be delighted after being told he may be leaving jail for a secure hospital.

Worboys - who is currently serving two life sentences - could be moved to a high security hospital, such as Broadmoor, after experts concluded he has a personality disorder. 

The 69-year-old serial sex offender has already been moved from HMP Wakefield to the Westgate Unit at HMP Frankland in County Durham.

The Frankland Westgate Unit is a specialised personality disorder treatment and progression facility located within the maximum security prison, housing approximately 65 to 86 high-risk adult male offenders.

The unit, a source said, was established specifically to 'treat individuals with complex psychological issues'. 

But, they added, it is more of a 'hospital environment' and is like a 'prison within a prison'.    

'He knows he's on a pathway towards a potential move to a secure hospital because of his diagnosis,' the source told The Sun.

'And while he hopes to be freed, he knows that life there would be much easier than in a high-security jail.'

In May, it was ruled Worboys was still considered too dangerous to be released after being refused parole for a second time. 

He was first convicted in 2009 of 19 sexual offences linked to attacks on 12 women between October 2006 and February 2008. 

Worboys - now known as John Radford - stalked London's West End in a cab before offering his victims sedative-laced champagne and attacking them. 

He lured women into his cab late at night, pretending to have won the lottery before asking them to help celebrate his winnings to make him appear more interesting.

Worboys told psychiatrists he had been 'fantasising' about his crimes since 1986, and was motivated by 'hostility towards women'.

He was able to continue offending due to a string of police mistakes after 10 women reported very similar allegations between 2002 and 2008.

In 2009, he was jailed indefinitely, with a minimum term of eight years for 19 sex attacks on 12 women.

He was cleared for release by the Parole Board after 10 years without his victims being informed. Officials had failed to take into account evidence he had attacked 105 women.

But a decision to release Worboys in 2018 was reversed by the Parole Board after widespread public outrage which sparked other victims to come forward.

In 2019, he was sentenced to life with a minimum term of six years after more victims came forward.