Crime - John Worboys: The Black Cab Rapist

John Worboys (born June 1957 in Enfield, Middlesex), is a convicted British serial rapist, known as the Black Cab Rapist. He was convicted in March 2009 for attacks on 12 women. Police believe that he may have had more than one hundred victims, possibly being Britains most prolific sex attacker.Personal historyWorboys lived alone in Rotherhithe, South London. He married in 1991, but separated after 8 years. His ex-wife has claimed that he sexually assaulted her daughter and that he confessed to following home and assaulting another woman. He was in a relationship at the time of his arrest in 2008.He left school with few qualifications and worked in various jobs including a milkman, a junior dairy manager and a security guard. He had sleeping problems a prescription allowed him to stockpile temazepam, which he later used to drug women.From 1987-2000, Worboys worked as a stripper, using the name Terry the Minder. As Paul and Tony, Worboys directed and appeared in a pornographic film. He hired out his flat in Poole, Dorset, for making his films. He worked as a taxi driver in Bournemouth while living at his holiday flat in Poole.MethodWorboys was a London black cab taxi driver, who picked up women as fares late at night in central London and told them he was celebrating coming into a large amount of money, usually by winning the lottery or at a casino. He would show them a carrier bag full of money to back up his story, ply them with champagne that had been drugged with sedatives, and then sexually assault or rape them. In some cases, he offered women money to have sex with him. The women would often have little memory of what happened to them.Police investigationWorboys was arrested for the sexual assault of a 19-year-old student in July 2007 and held at a police station in Plumstead, South-East London, but was released on bail after police believed his protests that she had been drunk and kissed him as she left his cab, which was confirmed by CCTV footage.In December 2007, a 26-year-old woman made a complaint about a cab driver who drugged and raped her, but a DNA match was not matched to Worboys. In January 2008 a 29-year-old insurance broker made a similar report to Essex police. In February 2008 Worboys raped a lawyer in his cab, who reported this to the police. These three reports convinced police that they were dealing with a serial rapist, and they made a public appeal. A member of staff at a sexual referral unit remembered the 2007 case, and Worboys was arrested at his house in Rotherhithe.Physical evidencePolice found a rape kit in the boot of his Fiat Punto, containing champagne miniatures, plastic gloves, a torch, vibrators, condoms, sleeping tablets and an ashtray he used to crush drugs. In a safe in Worboys garage police found hand-written notes outlining his planned explanations if he was questioned again following his 2007 arrest. These papers were not used in court because he claimed to have written them for his solicitor. Worboys DNA was recovered from a semen stain in one womans underwear, a wristband belonging to another woman was found in his house, and a third victims address was found in his notebook. Forensic evidence linked a vibrator found in his car to another victim.