Victim forced to give evidence as Worboys bids to avoid life term

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2019/sep/02/victim-forced-to-give-evidence-as-worboys-bids-to-avoid-life-term

Version 0 of 1.

The serial sex attacker John Worboys has forced one of his victims to give evidence in court as he attempts to avoid a life sentence.

Worboys, 62, was jailed indefinitely for the protection of the public with a minimum of eight years in 2009 for offences against 12 women, whom he picked up in his black cab before plying them with spiked champagne so that he could sexually assault them.

He had been expected to be in the dock at the Old Bailey to be jailed on Monday after admitting four more similar attacks on women dating as far back as 2000. But Worboys claims the first offence occurred later, and Mrs Justice McGowan must make a ruling before sentencing him on November 4.

The decision could mean the difference between a life sentence and a much shorter prison term. This is because a longer period of offending could require a lengthier sentence.

John Worboys admits drugging four more women

Worboys appeared in court by video link from Wakefield Prison, while his first victim gave evidence behind a screen.

She says she was attacked after she got into his cab when she left a wine bar in Dover Street, in Mayfair, in 2000 or 2001. Worboys claims that the incident happened much later, after January 1 2003.

The woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, said she came forward after reading that Worboys was due to be released last year. “I thought it was my duty really to give my statement. I thought that would just be it,” she said.

A fresh parole board hearing ruled that Worboys should remain in prison, citing his “sense of sexual entitlement” and a need to control women, after an earlier decision that he should be set free was overturned.

Worboys’ victim was not questioned about the attack itself, which was outlined by Jonathan Polnay at an earlier hearing.

“He told her he had won money on the horses and was celebrating, and claimed he had been a stripper with the Chippendales,” he said. “He offered champagne and invited her to celebrate. She agreed.

“This defendant pulled over on a side road off the A40 served an alcoholic drink in a plastic cup, which she drank. That is her last memory that evening. She woke up the next day naked, with her clothes left in a trail on the way to her bed.”

Polnay earlier said the second victim was a university student in London in 2003 who was targeted after leaving a nightclub on New Oxford Street in what was “an identical method, not only to the first count, but a number of previous convictions and allegations three and four”.

All the women made their allegations to police in early 2018.

The defendant, originally from Enfield, north London, pleaded guilty to two counts of administering a stupefying or overpowering drug with intent to commit rape or indecent assault.

He admitted two further charges of administering a substance with intent to commit a sexual offence under the Sexual Offences Act. The court heard that he may still decide to give evidence before he is sentenced.