Real Crime: The Black Cab Rapist
Monday, 11 October 2010, 10:35PM – 11:35PM
Real Crime: The Black Cab Rapist tells the shocking story of the search for a sexual predator who hid behind a trusted profession to drug, rape or assault over 100 women.
Presented by Mark Austin, the programme includes brand new interviews with victims, the police, lawyers and other professionals involved to provide a compelling insight into this complex and disturbing case.
2002 marked the beginning of a series of attacks on the streets of London, which went undetected for five years. It would result in the conviction of Britain’s most prolific serial sex attacker, John Worboys, the black cab rapist.
Sarah Craigie tells the programme what happened to her, after hailing a cab in London, following an argument with her boyfriend.
“As we were driving out of London he (the driver) told me he’s won at the horses, and did I want to help him celebrate? He had champagne, vodka and whisky but I asked for a soft drink and he gave me a can of coke. He passed it through the window and it was already open. I started feeling very nauseous, very sick. I knew something wasn’t right. I texted my boyfriend and said, ‘I know we’ve had an argument but I need you to meet me, something’s not right.’”
Real Crime recounts how the driver stopped the cab and got into the back with a bottle of champagne, telling Sarah he wanted to celebrate his win, but when she shouted at him he got back in the driver’s seat and drove towards her house where her boyfriend was waiting for her. Sarah had a lucky escape, but like many victims she didn’t report the incident at the time.
DI Dave Reid tells the programme: “The vast majority of women he picked up, he picked up late in the evening or in the early hours. He came up with a similar sort of patter saying, ’You’re my last job of the evening, I’m going your way anyway,’ and often offering a reduced fare or sometimes no fare.”
For years police were unaware that there was a serial sex offender driving a black cab. The vast majority of attacks were never reported and those that were, were often met with scepticism as the women couldn’t remember anything.
In July 2007 an attack with all the usual hallmarks was reported, but in this case a vital piece of evidence was gifted to the police. A student from Greenwich University hailed a black cab and was offered a drink by the driver, which she accepted. The last thing she remembered was drinking in the back of the cab; she had no memory of anything else until the next day.
She reported the incident to the police, but she claimed they didn’t take it seriously.
Police seized CCTV footage from outside her halls of residence which shows her getting out of the taxi assisted by the driver.
Although this footage gave them the lead to Worboys through his number plate, the programme reveals that the police made a catalogue of errors, which meant they missed a golden opportunity to apprehend this sexual predator much sooner than they did.
Worboys was a single man who lived alone in Rotherhithe and was described by female friends as the perfect gentleman. The programme reveals that he was obsessed with women and decided on a career that would give him the access to women he desired, becoming a male stripper and calling himself Terry the Minder.
Jan Reynolds went out for a date with Worboys after one of his shows and tells the programme:
“We spent the evening out and went back to his place, which I never do on a first date, but because he was so irresistible, we had a sexual relationship.”
After this date Jan didn’t hear anything from Worboys until several weeks later when he suggested another meeting, but this time he had something more sinister in mind.
Jan recalls: “On the second date he cooked a meal for me and I had two or three glasses of wine. I felt quite woozy, lightheaded… I never knew anything else whatsoever until I woke up the next morning, in his bed. I felt very angry, very ashamed.”
As he grew older work as a stripper dried up and he started to finance and star in low budget porn films, but in 1996 he decided to change careers again to one that would still give him access to women, and trained as a black cab driver.
CPS lawyer Tony Connell tells the programme: “One sensed that it was his whole life, his whole mission was not necessarily to be a taxi driver and earn proper money, but to use his employment in order to satisfy his perverted lust.”
One of his victims, who wants to remain anonymous, tells the programme how a black taxi pulled up as she was walking home after a night out:
“It was really strange as I hadn’t hailed it but I got in. He started telling me about this win that he’s had and he put his hand down and pulled up this wodge of cash, but it didn’t register with me as sinister at that point. He said he’d been waiting to have someone to celebrate with and wondered if I wanted a drink, and I said, ‘Yes, I’ll have a drink.’ “
As they neared her home the taxi pulled up in a deserted street.
“I said, ‘What are you doing?’ He said, ‘I’m just going to pull up here and have a drink with you, and then I’ll take you back to your flat.’ The last thing I remember him doing was getting out of the front of the taxi and getting into the back with me. I remember this feeling of slipping into unconsciousness, and thinking, ‘This isn’t good.’”
Unbeknown to her, Worboys had let himself into her flat, woken her boyfriend and told him to get her out of the cab as she had had too much to drink.
She says: “My next memory is two o’clock the next afternoon, I’m pretty sure nothing happened to me in the back of the cab, partly because I woke up fully clothed, I had tights and knee high boots on, they didn’t appear to have been interfered with.”
What may have saved her was a side effect of the drugs; her boyfriend told her that she had wet herself in the back of the taxi.
Despite his numerous attacks, police were still unaware that there was a serial sex attacker at large, but this was about to change.
DI Dave Reid tells Real Crime: “There was evidence from a number of the women that they had been drugged and evidence that they had been sexually assaulted but only in one case did the evidence amount to a woman having a recollection of rape having occurred.”
In December 2007, a young woman was out with a friend and they decided to share a cab home. Worboys dropped the first woman at her home and told the other woman that he had won £47,000 at a casino and offered her a drink, which she accepted. But things did not go to plan: this time the victim came to briefly during the attack and remembers Worboys being on top of her and his face being close to hers.
A virgin before the incident, she was very sore the following day, and made a complaint to the police. As a result her clothing was taken for forensic examination and DNA was discovered but did not match any on the police database.
In 2008 the police finally linked the attacks together. An officer in the Sapphire unit at Scotland Yard had been looking through crime reports in London over the past few years and noticed some startling similarities. Once some of these were linked a command team was called in to investigate. DI Dave Reid led the team.
The police decided to go public and issue an appeal, which resulted in a vital call. A woman from a sexual referral centre told them she had treated the Greenwich student whose attack was caught on CCTV, and the police linked this back to John Worboys who had been questioned at the time, but released.
Police sped to Worboy’s home, wanting to get there before he was alerted to the public appeal and was able to destroy evidence.
A police search of his flat revealed a treasure trove of forensic evidence, including a bag holding over £3,000 in cash, a number of different types of drugs and DNA from one of the victims was found on a vibrator.
Police had Worboys as the prime suspect in five attacks.
The case received widespread media attention and the police hotline received a staggering amount of calls. Before long 83 women had been linked to the rapist.
As the date of Worboy’s trial drew near, the difficulty for the police and prosecution was that in the main, many of the victims were unable to remember a great deal, and in many cases had come forward months and in some cases years after the incident took place.
Police had to decide which of the 83 victims to bring before the court in order to build the strongest case against Worboys. They chose 14 women and 23 separate charges including rape, sexual assault and drugging. Worboys pleaded not guilty which meant all 14 women would have to relive their ordeal in court.
DI Reid tells the programme: “What was sad was that Mr Worboys put the women through that trial. They were incredibly brave all 14 of them.“
Crime reporter Jon Clements recalls Worboys demeanour in court: “He appeared embarrassed to be there, upset, slightly confused, he wasn’t angry, he wasn’t threatening, he wasn’t the sex predator monster you imagine.”
The weight of evidence and the compelling testimonies from the victims meant justice was done and Worboys was convicted of 19 counts of drugging and sexually assaulting women, and given a potentially unlimited sentence, However, a parole board can decide in eight years if he is fit to be released into society.
The Independent Police Complaints Commission severely criticised the police for its handling of the attack on the Greenwich student and major changes took place.
Mark Austin tells the programme: “A total of 102 women have come forward with allegations against Worboys, but disturbingly many still don’t and may never know exactly what happened to them in the back of Worboy’s cab.”
