Police told woman who reported rape by John Worboys: 'A black cab driver wouldn't do that'

A woman who told police she had been raped by black cab driver John Worboys was told: “a black cab driver just wouldn’t do that”.

The woman said despite reporting her attack to police in 2003, she was later told her testimony wasn’t believable.

She told the BBC she believes had police pursued her case, it may have prevented countless other attacks that were carried out by Worboys.

Known as the Black Cab Rapist, Worboys was jailed indefinitely in 2009 with a minimum term of eight years for drugging and sexually assaulting women passengers. He was convicted of 19 offences against 12 victims but has been linked to more than 100 complaints.

In January, it emerged that the Parole Board had decided Worboys should be released on licence after spending less than a decade behind bars, sparked outrage.

Two victims and London Mayor Sadiq Khan have now launched legal action challenging the decision to release him from prison.

Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, one of the victims described how she was attacked by Worboys in 2003.

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She said the taxi driver had seemed “normal” and there was nothing threatening about him. But after he offered her a drink, she lost consciousness and the next thing she remembered was waking up in hospital.

“I know I was raped, I knew as soon as I woke up I had been raped,” she said.

But when she reported it to police, the woman said: “They said a black cab driver just wouldn’t do that”.

Two days later, she returned to the police station to record a video interview for potential use in court and was advised not to be “too emotional”.

But as she tried to remain detached she said she was then told halfway through that she wasn’t coming across as believable.

“He [the interviewing officer] said, ‘I’m sorry, you’re not coming across as a credible witness because you’re not upset, you’re not crying’.

“I tried to tell him that that’s what I had been told to do and he said, ‘well I’m sorry, you’re just not believable’. I was devastated because I was like, ‘but it happened’.”

When a public appeal was made for witnesses in 2008, the woman came forward again, and said she had struggled with the thought that had she been more ‘believable’, Worboys’ later attacks might have been prevented.

Asked how she felt when she learned he had been released – despite her and other victims’ belief that he would be behind bars indefinitely – she said: “I was horrified. if you look at just the 12 that went to court, an eight-year sentence for 12 victims is not enough.

“But if you look at the bigger picture, that 105 were linked to this case, that is appalling that he only served eight years.”

The woman said she thinks a Judicial Review had a “quite high” chance of success because: “it seems like there’s so many mistakes being made again with his case.”

She added: “He has been in my head for 15 years and as much as I try not to think about it, anything like this brings it all back again and it’s like I’m back to 2003 and reliving the nightmare all over again.”