Carrie Johnson: There could be ‘1,000, if not more’ victims of John Worboys
By Ted Hennessey, Press Association
The wife of former UK prime minister Boris Johnson has said there could be “up to 1,000, if not more” victims of black cab rapist John Worboys.
Carrie Johnson, who helped bring the serial sex attacker to justice, said she had been contacted by more women who believe they were assaulted by him.
She told Good Morning Britain: “The truth is that his crimes span from, what we know, from 2000 up to when he was convicted in 2009.
“And he was a cab driver for that duration, out potentially every night in his cab, so there could be up to 1,000, if not more than that.”
The Parole Board last week said Worboys “continues to represent a high risk of committing further serious sexual offences against women”.
He is serving a life sentence after luring women into his taxi late at night, pretending he had won money and offering them celebratory drinks laced with drugs.
Mrs Johnson, one of several women who spoke out to keep Worboys behind bars, said news he had been refused parole came as a “huge relief” to many survivors.
She told Good Morning Britain that more people have come forward saying they believed they had been in his cab after watching an ITV dramatisation of the case.
This “might really help keep him behind bars for good”, she added.
Mrs Johnson said: “I think there’ll be women who, like me, were drugged, who might not realise they were drugged, who just thought, God, maybe that last drink didn’t sit well with me, or, or now maybe they’ve seen what’s happened and they think: ‘Oh well, it’s done.’
“I would urge them to come forward if they can.”
It has been a hugely anxious wait knowing that Worboys was up for parole again. The relief I feel knowing that he will remain behind bars is hard to put into words. Women and girls across Britain are safer as a result of this decision.
— Carrie Johnson (@carrielbjohnson) May 14, 2026
Worboys was first jailed in 2009 for 19 sexual offences linked to attacks on 12 victims between October 2006 and February 2008 in London, and given an indefinite sentence for public protection with a minimum term of eight years.
In December 2017, a Parole Board panel decided he was ready for release, sparking a legal challenge by two of his victims that successfully got the decision overturned.
Amid outrage over the battle, rules were then changed to allow some parole hearings to be held in public and permit better scrutiny of the processes used.
“I was a 19-year-old university student when I got into the taxi of John Worboys – the man now known as the black cab rapist,” Mrs Johnson wrote in the Daily Mail.
“Nearly 20 years on, while much has changed, I fear the way the police deal with crimes such as sexual assault and rape is no better than it was then.”
Excellent news just in. John Worboys was up for parole this week but we have just been told that the Parole Board member did not direct release or recommend a move to open conditions.
— Carrie Johnson (@carrielbjohnson) May 14, 2026
Reflecting on her own experience, Johnson recounted the night the cab driver spiked her drink after claiming he had won big at a casino.
While she managed to pour one glass of champagne onto the floor, he later returned with a bottle of vodka, which she would discover had been spiked.
After making it home, she said she “never made it into my bed”.
“Instead, I passed out in the bathroom, lying in the empty bathtub, fully clothed,” she said.
Years later, allegations against Worboys emerged and a friend Mrs Johnson had confided in contacted her about the case.
Johnson said she was able to identify him in a line-up and provided the police with a mobile phone number he had given her.
The publicity around the case led further victims to come forward, and Worboys was charged with more crimes dating between 2000 and 2008, which he admitted.
In 2019, he was handed two life sentences with a minimum term of six years.
Worboys will be considered for parole again in around two years’ time.
