John Worboys forces victim to give evidence in court after disputing date he attacked her

Rapist to undergo surgery for hernia, court told

A victim of the “black cab rapist” John Worboys has been forced to give evidence in court after he disputed the date he attacked her.

Worboys, who now goes by the name John Derek Radford, is facing life imprisonment after admitting assaults on four more women.

The victim of the earliest assault said it took place in London in 2000 or 2001, but Worboys now claims it happened at least two years later.

Mrs Justice McGowan indicated that she was considering a life sentence in June, and will be considering the length of his offending when deciding the punishment.

The date dispute forced her to delay Worboys’ sentencing, which was due to take place on Monday, for a “Newton” hearing to establish the facts.

The 62-year-old rapist appeared in court by video-link from HMP Wakefield wearing a blue shirt and glasses, and was at one point given a cup of tea by a guard.

The Old Bailey heard he is to undergo surgery on a hernia, and may still decide to give evidence before he is sentenced.

Worboys spoke to confirm his name and nodded when asked if he could hear proceedings before his first victim gave evidence behind a screen.

The woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, said she came forward after reading news 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.

The woman told the court she was attacked after getting into Worboys’ cab when she left a Mayfair bar in 2000 or 2001.

Worboys claims the incident happened much later, after 1 January 2003.

His victim was not questioned about the attack itself on Monday, 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,” the prosecutor said.

"He offered champagne and invited her to celebrate. She agreed.

John Worboys drugged lone women in his taxi and sexually assaulted them (PA)

"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.”

Mr Polnay earlier said the second victim was a university student in London in 2003 when she 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 four women made their allegations to police in early 2018, following news that the Parole Board had judged Worboys fit for release after serving eight years of an indefinite sentence for public protection.

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.

Justice McGowan will make a ruling before sentencing Worboys for the new offences on 4 November.

He was originally jailed in 2009 for attacks on 12 women, but it emerged that prosecutors had chosen not to proceed with some counts and other victims had not come forward.

Police suspected him of attacking more than 100 women but several investigations were dropped with no further action on advice from the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS).

Worboys’ victims challenged the Parole Board’s ruling and a fresh hearing ruled that he should remain in prison, citing his “sense of sexual entitlement” and a need to control women.

Additional reporting by PA