Black cab rapist row sparks parole review
. . . that’s what a woman drugged by the black cab rapist calls his crime – so why, she wants to know, has he been freed?
MINISTERS last night stepped into the row over the release of black cab rapist John Worboys by announcing a review of the parole process – and an investigation into the system for alerting victims to an offender’s release.
Worboys, who was found guilty of one rape and a string of sexual assaults after plying his victims with spiked drinks, is feared to have carried out 100 attacks. But he is now set to be released on licence after spending nine years in prison.
Nearly 60 Labour, Lib Dem and Plaid Cymru MPs wrote to Justice Secretary David Lidington demanding to know whether victims had the chance to appeal before the Parole Board authorised the release.
Announcing a review of the system, Mr Lidington said yesterday: ‘While it is right that the Parole Board should remain an independent body, I believe that there is a strong case to review how to allow greater openness about the decision-making process.’
The Chairman of the Parole Board, Professor Nick Hardwick, has apologised ‘unreservedly’ for the failure to inform Worboys’ victims of his release.
A WOMAN who escaped from black cab rapist John Worboys after he drugged her with champagne laced with sedatives has spoken of her outrage at his release.
Worboys, Britain’s worst serial sex offender, was jailed in 2009 for drugging and sexually assaulting 12 passengers. But more than 100 women came forward to say he had targeted them, and detectives suspect him of carrying out more than 500 attacks.
He was given an indeterminate sentence, with a minimum term of eight years. And as the outcry grew yesterday over the decision to free him after just nine years, the woman recalled her terrifying encounter – and warned that he is likely to strike again. She said: ‘I don’t know how he has managed to persuade people that he’s a reformed character, not after that many crimes.’
The woman, then aged 30, was on her way home with a female friend in 2008 when she hailed Worboys’s cab at 2am. ‘I was complaining that I had lost my phone, which he overheard, she revealed.
‘My friend told him that we should drop me off first. He refused but his argument made sense in terms of the route. He was a black cab driver so I trusted him.’
The friend spotted bottles of champagne in the footwell as she got out of the taxi. ‘It made her really concerned seeing the drinks because he’d been so adamant about dropping her first and he knew I’d lost my phone. So she phoned my husband and said, “I know this sounds ridiculous but I’m really worried. It’s a black cab but something just doesn’t feel right.” ’
Former stripper Worboys, now 60, started telling the victim, from West London, about winning tens of thousands of pounds at a casino, and asked if she would have a drink with him to celebrate. ‘I said I didn’t want to but then he pulled over in a really dark residential street.
‘I didn’t know where I was so I went along with it because I didn’t know what else to do. It was terrifying. I kept thinking, “If I’m nice to him, he will take me home.” ’
Worboys got in the back and handed her some champagne but she spotted a tablet in the bottom of the glass. ‘When I pointed this out he said, “Don’t worry, it’s just a headache pill. I’ve got a headache.” I tried to spill as much of it as possible when he wasn’t looking, but I did have to drink some to toast his win.’ She then began to black out.
She added: ‘He then got in the front of the taxi but there are bits I don’t remember – it’s not all in chronological order. I don’t remember what happened in the back seat. He could potentially have done something to me but I don’t know.’
The next thing the woman remembers is driving towards her house. ‘When we were coming down my road, he said, “Let’s just have another drink to celebrate.” He wanted to go down this really dark, dead-end close to my home.
‘I said, “No, I really want to go home, please. Just take me home.” And at that moment I saw my husband in the street.
‘I was like, “My husband! That’s my husband!” – he couldn’t get me out of the cab fast enough.’
Now a mother- of- two, she was one of 14 women who gave evidence at Worboys’s trial, where he was found guilty of drugging her with intent.
She said: ‘I think everyone thought that what he had done was so abhorrent, no one was going to let him out so quickly.’
The woman was aghast last week to be told about his imminent release. ‘ I would have thought that he’s at very high risk of doing it again to somebody else or lots of other people,’ she said. ‘I don’t see how they’d be able to stop him.’
‘There’s a very high risk of him doing it again’