London cab rapist sentenced to at least 8 years in prison

By Caroline Gammell (London Telegraph) Last Updated: 8:58AM BST 22 Apr 2009

The 51-year-old spent years targeting young professional women as they emerged from late night bars and clubs in the heart of London, offering them a lift before plying them with spiked champagne, having claimed he had won the lottery.

Once unconscious in the back of his taxi, the former stripper and porn actor would pounce, assaulting them as they lay passed out in the cab. Yesterday, he was given an indeterminate jail sentence and told he would have to serve a minimum of eight years before he could be considered for release.

As Worboys has already spent 15 months in jail, he could be freed in 2016, before the age of 60.
One of his victims – the first to give evidence at his trial – said she was horrified that Worboys could be released from prison so soon.

Joanna, not her real name, has not even told her own mother how she was drugged and assaulted in the back of his taxi in October 2006.

The 24-year-old said: "I think it is appalling, this sentence is far too lenient. He has been described as Britain's worst sex offender, eight years in jail will not break him or make him change his ways. Maybe he does regret what he did, but at the same time he did it for so many years and hurt so many lives. Eight years doesn't make up for all the pain he caused."

Rape campaigner Jill Saward, who was raped herself in 1986, said: "I welcome the indeterminate sentence but the minimum term of eight years is less than eight months per rape. This sentence is a disaster and is likely to inspire other victims to come forward."

When Worboys was convicted last month of a string of sexual offences – including rape – against 12 victims, it emerged that 85 women had come forward.

A further 45 women have spoken out since he was found guilty – 11 are deemed credible - and police believe he may have targeted as many as 200 victims over the years.

A series of police blunders led to at least 12 missed opportunities to catch him and an Independent Police Complaints Commission investigation is underway into what went wrong.

The way in which rapes are investigated has changed since Worboys and now fall under the responsibility of the Homicide and Serious Crime Command at Scotland Yard.

Passing sentence, Mr Justice Penry-Davey said the defendant had abused a position of trust as a London cab driver.

"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. 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 was to get into your cab late at night."

Banning Worboys from ever driving a taxi again, Mr Justice Penry-Davey said the £3,680 he had stored in his cab to prove his lottery win would be shared between his 12 victims. In addition, the proceeds of the sale of his £5,000 taxi will be divided amongst them.

The judge insisted that the eight years was a minimum term only and Worboys would remain behind bars as long as a he was a danger to women.