Black cab rapist John Worboys has launched an appeal against his two life sentences
Black cab rapist John Worboys has launched an appeal against his two life sentences for drugging and attacking lone women in the back of his taxi.
The 63-year-old, who has changed his name to John Derek Radford, committed a string of assaults between 2000 and 2008 while working as a taxi driver in London.
He was first convicted in 2009 and was jailed indefinitely for public protection with a minimum of eight years for drugging and sexually assaulting dozens of women.
But, in 2018, the Parole Board cleared him for release claiming the sex offender was now an ‘open and honest’ person in a blunder that shocked Britain.
Days later four women, who had never contacted police because they believed Worboys would not be released, rushed to tell detectives their own horrific stories.
The sexual predator was then handed two life sentences in December 2019 – with the judge ruling that he posed an ongoing danger to women.
However, Worboys has since launched an appeal with his challenge set to be heard at the Court of Appeal on Wednesday morning.
Worboys’ black cab (pictured) was used to pick up victims who were offered cut price fares and an alcoholic drink that were usually spiked so he could abuse them
Worboys is feared to have plied more than 100 women with Champagne or wine laced with sedatives from a ‘rape kit’ kept in his cab – which included sleeping tablets, plastic gloves and condoms
Worboys is feared to have plied more than 100 women with Champagne or wine laced with sedatives from a ‘rape kit’ kept in his cab – which included sleeping tablets, plastic gloves and condoms.
He then convinced many victims to toast his success with a spiked drink after lying about winning the lottery.
Victims woke up several hours later confused about what had happened to them and often unaware that they had been attacked.
The former taxi driver, originally from Enfield, north London, was convicted of 19 charges of drugging and sexually assaulting 12 women in 2009.
He was jailed indefinitely for public protection with a minimum of eight years.
John Worboys had previously admitted to a psychologist that he had fantasised about drugging and attacking women since the mid-1980s. Pictured: In February 2018 (left) and sketched in the dock in 2019 (right)
The Parole Board controversially said Worboys could be freed from prison in 2019 before the decision was reversed following a landmark legal challenge.
It was at this time that more of Worboys’ victims came forward and he admitted fresh crimes against four women.
The predator pleaded guilty to drugging two women with intent to commit rape or indecent assault and drugging two other women with intent to commit a sexual offence.
The Old Bailey previously heard that Worboys had admitted to a psychologist that he had fantasised about drugging and attacking women for decades.
The former milkman had bragged of a 13-year career as a stripper working under the stage name Terry the Minder (promotional picture from his early stripping days)
Prosecutor Duncan Penny told the court in 2019: ‘He was fantasising about offending since 1986. The defendant is potentially as dangerous now as he was at the first sentence.’
The former milkman had bragged of a 13-year career as a stripper working under the stage name Terry the Minder.
Working six days a week, including Sunday lunchtimes, stage performances, hen nights and kissograms across London and the South East gave him access to hundreds of women.
Combined with work as a security guard and cab driver, Worboys earned thousands of pounds every week and lived like a pop star.
Publicity photographs of him taken in the 1980s and 1990s show him with a broad grin and a peroxide blond-tinted mullet haircut.
He posed for glossy shots dressed in American-style police uniforms, tuxedos, satin underwear and bright rubber-look outfits.
In 2006, under an assumed name, Worboys even recorded an amateur adult film, with one reviewer noting he was one of a ‘group of ageing guys who look and sound like extras from the cast of EastEnders’.
Worboys gave up the stage in 1999, aged 42, turning to driving a cab full-time.
Worboys challenge is due to be heard at the Court of Appeal at 10.30am on Wednesday.
