Black cab rapist John Worboys jailed for life for attacking four more victims

Black cab rapist John Worboys has been jailed for life with a minimum term of six years for attacking four more victims, as a court heard he remains as "dangerous" as ever.

The 62-year-old predator, who is already in jail for attacking 12 women, had pleaded guilty to spiking the drinks of an additional four women who came forward last year.

The court heard Worboys had since admitted to a psychologist that he plied a total of 90 women with alcohol, and drugged a quarter of them, after being inspired by pornography.

Worboys told psychiatrists he had been "fantasising" about his crimes since 1986, and was motivated by "hostility towards women".

A probation report in August this year found: "He is potentially just as dangerous now as the point of the first sentence."

Sentencing, Mrs Justice McGowan said: "I am satisfied to the required standard, on the evidence I have heard, that you are a continuing risk. I find you are currently dangerous.

"Your offending spans five years more than previously known.

"I do not know when, if ever, you will cease to be a risk. It will be for the Parole Board to decide in the future."

The judge also said she was concerned about Worboys' ability to "manipulate others" and his "failure to admit" the risk he posed.

The court heard how Worboys was locked up indefinitely for public protection with a minimum of eight years in 2009, after being found guilty of 19 sex offences against 12 women between 2006 and 2008.

Last year, the Parole Board overturned a decision to release him, and ruled that he should remain in prison, citing his “sense of sexual entitlement”.

As a result of the publicity, fresh victims came forward to report attacks dating back to 2000, meaning Worboys had been committing crimes up to six years longer than previously thought.

Worboys, from Enfield, north London, admitted two charges of administering a drug with intent to commit rape or indecent assault, and two further charges of administering a substance with intent to commit a sexual offence.

Victims woke up 'not knowing what had happened'

Prosecutor Duncan Penny QC told how the first victim was picked up by Worboys in 2000 or early 2001, after a night out at a wine bar in Dover Street.

Worboys said he was celebrating a win on the horses, and had previously worked as a Chippendales stripper, before he pulled into a side road off the A40 and plied her with red wine.

Mr Penny said: "The last memory she had was finishing drinking the wine.

"She had no further memories to what took place that evening until she woke up the next day at her home address.

"She was naked in bed with her clothes laid out in a trail."

The second victim, a university student living in north London, was picked up after a night out with friends at a club on New Oxford Street in 2003.

Worboys said he had won the lottery and she and her flatmate were his last fare of the night.

When he reached their home, the woman agreed to have a drink with him but her friend got out.

He gave her "something fizzy" and drove to Paddington Basin, where she remembered he appeared "in her face", possibly after kissing her.

She later recalled being back outside her house in the hazy morning light, lying in the floor of the cab.

The next day she was "anxious" and had a "feeling of dread something bad happened", the court heard.

Mr Penny said: "She went to Edgware police station and stood outside and thought about reporting it, but she did not know what to say to police, that she had a bad feeling."

Years later, she recognised Worboys from a picture on television, and had "flashbacks" to what happened when she was pregnant with her two children.

The third victim got into Worboys’ cab after a night out in the King’s Road in 2007.

Worboys told her he had won £40,000 at the casino, showed her a Sainsbury’s bag with banknotes in it, and held up a bottle of champagne.

He pulled up and gave her a drink, but she remembered saying she wanted to go, and tipping it on the ground.

She woke up in bed the next day with a hangover.

The fourth woman was attacked in 2007 or 2008, after she got into Worboys’ cab with a friend.

He told them he had won the lottery and offered them miniature bottles of champagne.

The woman took three sips from a cup before she decided to stop drinking, because he was a stranger.

After dropping off her friend, he continued on to the woman’s home, but she had no memory of getting from the kerbside to her flat.

Mr Penny said: "She woke up in bed the following morning. The bedclothes had not moved and her hands were crossed over her chest, which was unusual.

"She was sufficiently unnerved to check herself. There were no visible signs she had been touched."

She felt "out of it" and slept deeply "as if someone had turned the light out", the court heard.

Mr Penny said: "The consistent themes throughout, together with the content of what took place, seems to be the profound effect not knowing what happened has had in each of these women throughout their lives, as a result of having been unfortunate enough to get into the defendant’s black cab."

Ali Bajwa QC, in mitigation, said the defendant, also known as John Radford, had expressed "sincere" remorse.