Worboys loses legal bid against life term

JOHN WORBOYS, the black cab rapist, has lost his legal bid to appeal against his life sentence after a court concluded it had been imposed to protect the public.

The sex offender, who was jailed in 2009 for 19 offences against 12 women, faced fresh charges in 2019 after he was nearly granted parole a year earlier, prompting new victims to come forward.

He was given a life sentence, with a minimum term of six years, for spiking the drinks of four women.

Worboys had previously been jailed indefinitely for public protection, with a minimum term of eight years, for attacks against women after drugging them in the back of his taxi. Police believe the former stripper, 63, committed crimes against more than 100 women.

Yesterday, the Court of Appeal rejected Worboys’s application to appeal against his 2019 sentence.

Joanne Cecil, representing Worboys, said it was “simply unnecessary” for Mrs Justice Mcgowan to have imposed a life sentence in Dec 2019.

But Lord Burnett, the Lord Chief Justice, said the application for permission to appeal against the sentence would be refused.

He said: “The judge was seeking to provide protection to the public by way of a life sentence which would be greater than that available following this applicant’s possible release from custody and supervision thereafter.”