Although convicted of 19 offences against 12 women, he was linked to a total of more than 100 – making him one of the UK’s most prolific sex offenders.

A source said: “There’s not been any plan put in place to have him in London and it’s looking increasingly likely he’ll be housed elsewhere.”

The news follows an announcement by justice secretary David Gauke that a judicial review of the Parole Board’s decision to free Worboys after less than ten years behind bars will not be held.

However London mayor, Sadiq Khan, and lawyers for victims will mount challenges to Worboys’ release this week. He said the serial sex attacker, 60, should “not be allowed to set foot in London”.

It has been reported Worboys could return to a flat he owns in Poole, Dorset. The stripper-turned-cabbie was jailed indefinitely in 2009, with a minimum eight-year term, for drugging and sexually assaulting 12 female passengers.

Richard Scorer, a lawyer at Slater and Gordon which represented 11 of the 12 victims, said: “While we welcome the news that Worboys may well not be housed in London it is a disgrace that victims are constantly finding out devel- opments from the media.

“It is crucial that victims are kept updated and are consulted about plans for his release to prevent causing them more alarm and distress.”

Tory MP Anna Soubry said: “I, and many others, am struggling to believe Worboys is no longer a danger. It is in the nature of this sort of offending that these men are often extremely cunning.”

Last night Harry Fletcher, founder of Victims Rights Campaign, believes the sex offender will be kept under strict supervision, including curfews and reporting restrictions, when freed.

He said: “I think Worboys’ release will happen within the next few weeks if the legal challenge fails and he will have stringent, some would say draconian, conditions placed on his licence.

“My belief is that he may be housed in a hostel in a large town or city outside London. Most of his victims are in the capital and he is likely to be easily identifiable, even more so if housed in a small town or village.”

Worboys targeted young women who had been drinking in bars and nightclubs in London’s West End and Chelsea.

He pretended to have won the lottery and offered his customers champagne, wine and vodka laced with powerful sed- atives to celebrate with him.

To give his story credibility he stuffed £4,000 in notes into a carrier bag and said it was his winnings.

Before working in London, he was a taxi driver in Bournemouth and is feared to have targeted at least four women in the Dorset seaside town.

He owns a home in Park Pine Man- sions in neighbouring Poole, where he is said to have previously made porn films.

One resident, Rebecca McCann, said: “This is a real cause of concern to me and my family.”