Black cab rapist Worboys given new life term and may ‘die in prison’
BLACK cab rapist John Worboys faces dying behind bars after being sentenced to life for a further four sex attacks, as it emerged he targeted at least 90 women.
The 62-year-old had already been jailed indefinitely for public protection with a minimum of eight years in 2009, for raping and sexually assaulting 12 women. A judge at the Old Bailey yesterday said Worboys still posed a danger to women as she sentenced him to life with a minimum of six years for four similar attacks on women dating back to 2000.
His victims last night expressed fears that the Parole Board could decide to release Worboys in just six years’ time, despite overhauls in the way decisions are made.
Dr Jackie Craissati, a clinical psychologist, told the court that Worboys had given alcohol laced with drugs to 90 women, and may have assaulted “20 or more” over the same period.
Philip Joseph, a psychiatrist, also said Worboys fantasised about assaulting women as far back as 1986, and had picked up the idea of drugging them from pornographic films.
In sentencing Worboys, Mrs Justice Mcgowan warned him that he might die in prison. Judge Mcgowan said she was handing down a discretionary life sentence because “the evidence that you continue to pose a danger [to women] is satisfactorily compelling”. She added: “I’m satisfied to the required standard that you are a continuing risk. You are a current danger. I don’t know when, if ever, you will cease to be a risk.”
Worboys admitted two counts of administering a stupefying or overpowering drug with intent to commit rape or indecent assault, and two further charges of administering a substance with intent to commit a sexual offence under the Sexual Offences Act.
The judge sentenced Worboys to life with a minimum term of six years on two counts of administering a drug with intent to commit rape or indecent assault, to run concurrently. The former cabbie could apply for parole after serving the minimum period, although the judge warned him he would have to persuade the authorities he no longer represents a risk and in reality he “may never be released” because of the seriousness of the offences and the danger he posed.
The four new victims came forward as a result of publicity when the Parole Board cleared Worboys for release in 2017. In 2018 a divisional court quashed that decision, on the grounds that he still posed a danger to women.
Fiona, one of the two women who brought the successful legal challenge of the Parole Board’s decision to release him, questioned the decision over the minimum tariff of six years yesterday. She said: “I just hope that this won’t end up like the original sentence of a minimum of eight years and then release by the Parole Board. He has destroyed so many lives and I still believe he’s capable of more harm.”
Yesterday, Jonathan Polnay, prosecuting, said that Worboys had left the four new victims deeply traumatised after offering them drink laced with drugs and leaving them unconscious after they had hailed his cab.
One victim, who was attacked when she got into Worboys’s cab after she left a wine bar in Mayfair, woke up naked in her bed at home. Another victim was targeted after leaving a nightclub on New Oxford Street. Both came forward when it emerged Worboys might be released, and he was charged in May.