'Black cab rapist' who may have attacked 100 women would tell his victims he'd won the lottery
A new series will tell the horrific true story of the ‘Black cab rapist’, a taxi driver police say may have assaulted over 100 women.
John Worboys was jailed in 2009 for 19 sex offences against multiple women, with other victims coming forward in 2019 and earning Worboys a further two life sentences.
The 68-year-old and his despicable crimes will be the focus of a brand-new ITV true crime series called Believe Me, and will see Daniel Mays play the role of Worboys.
It will centre on the brave women's fight to bring the legal system and police to account for the failures in their investigation, as well as the parole board who granted him release before the decision was overturned.
Worboys told women he had ‘won the lottery’ and would show them bags of cash
The Enfield cab driver would sexually assault women after giving them a ride in his taxi, but would first use the ploy of claiming to have had a windfall from the lottery or having won big at the horses as an excuse to give them champagne.
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The champagne was often laced with drugs such as Temazepam and Nytol to incapacitate women and leave them often unable to remember the assaults he carried out.
The first victim to report Worboys to the police was sexually assaulted by him in 2006. A further 13 victims would come forward to the police reporting that he had drugged (or attempted to drug) them, with several reporting that he had sexually assaulted or raped them.
Worboys was arrested in 2007 but no further action was taken, however in 2008 was arrested on suspicion of sexual assault against six women initially, though this would rise to 14.
During his initial sentencing he was given a full life sentence, with an initial minimum of eight years in prison.
The presiding judge, Justice Penry-Davey, said at the time: "As somebody with an enduring and powerful interest in sexual matters you saw an opportunity through cab driving. You exploited that trust and, through the use of alcohol and drugs, you sexually abused young women who had trusted you to take them home safely late at night as it was your duty in the circumstances to do."
He called Worboys a 'repetitive predatory sexual offender', saying: "You developed and perfected a web of deceit that was sufficient to ensnare young, intelligent and sensible women who had enjoyed a night out and whose only mistake, as it turned out, was to get into your cab late at night.”
The ITV show will focus two of Worboys' victims, Sarah and Laila (not their real names) who brought the Metropolitan Police to court in a landmark legal case over its handling of the investigation.
Sarah and Laila's case against the Met Police
The two anonymous women sued the Met, relying on violations of the Human Right’s act.
Phillippa Kaufmann KC represented the real Sarah and Laila in their lawsuit, and told ITV ahead of the show’s release: “While the police had all themachinery in place to conduct effective investigations, including policies that were targeted specifically at drug facilitated sexual offending, the investigations actually conducted were disgracefully inadequate for both operational and systemic reasons.”
She described continuing to be ‘in awe’ of both women, adding of the show: “The drama captured Sarah and Laila and their stories with such humanity and colour that it cut through everything I thought I knew and made me feel it all over again – the horror of what Worboys did, the humiliations involved in the investigation and in being disbelieved, the devastating consequences of the police’s failures. I was genuinely surprised to be so engrossed and moved.”
Worboys has been in prison since 2009 and was almost released in 2018 before an appeal from survivors overturned the decision.
Earlier this year, however, it was announced that Worboys would face a public parole hearing in June of 2026,.
Speaking ahead of the upcoming case, Peter Rook KC said: “Proceedings are likely to include discussion about allegations that Mr Worboys has carried out serious sexual assaults for which he has not been convicted.”
The hearing will be one of only 12 parole hearings to have ever been made public.
The first episode of Believe Me airs on ITV at 9pm on Sunday (10 May).
Topics: True Crime, ITV, TV and Film, Crime, UK News
Michael Slavin