Carrie Johnson, the wife of former Prime Minister Boris Johnson, said the Parole Board’s latest decision was excellent news but said she fears the way the police deal with crimes is no better now
The wife of ex-prime minister Boris Johnson has told how black rapist John Worboys drugged her in the back of his taxi – and called for better police treatment of sexual assault victims.
Brave Carrie Johnson, now 38, got in the back of Worboys’ cab after a night out in Chelsea when she was 19. She told how he pulled up in his cab beside her as she waited alone for the night bus and told her he “didn’t like to see young women out on their own”.
Worboys – this week refused parole from prison – claimed he’d won big in a casino and offered her a glass of spiked champagne to “celebrate”. She managed to pour it on the floor he later duped her into taking a shot of vodka, which was also laced with drugs.
Carrie, who said Worboys initially came across as awkward and shy at times as part of his manipulative scheme, said he’d told her he was stopping his cab for a wee but was gone for ten minutes before returning to sit in the back seat with the vodka.
She added: “He was waiting for the drugs in the champagne he believed I had drunk to take effect. Now I realise he must have thought I had drunk the spiked champagne and was surprised to find me still sitting upright and chatting.
“He goaded me into drinking a shot of vodka. There was no more friendly conversation during the second half of the journey. I was tired and I remember very little of it. The spiked vodka must have been taking effect.”
Carrie said she was in horrid state when she left the cab and “completely incomprehensible” when she arrived home, adding: “Suddenly the room was spinning. My mother later said I looked like ‘a rag doll’.
“I was vomiting and slurring my words, almost completely incomprehensible. I want to die,’ I told my mum. Even then, I didn’t think my drink had been spiked. I never made it into my bed. Instead I passed out in the bathroom, lying in the empty bathtub, fully clothed.”
Years later, allegations against Worboys emerged and a friend Mrs Johnson had confided in contacted her about the case. Carrie said she was able to identify him in a line-up and provided the police with a mobile phone number he had given her.
Writing in the Daily Mail today, she fears that 20 years later the way police deal with sexual assault crimes is no better, which lead her to help Jeff Pope pen of new ITV series Believe Me.
She wrote: “What I worry hasn’t changed is the police culture that meant Worboys was not caught nearly as soon as he should have been.
“It takes enormous courage for women to come forward. They must know that when they do, they will be treated seriously and that every effort will be made to ensure justice is done.”
Worboys was first jailed in 2009 after being found guilty of 19 sexual offences linked to attacks on 12 victims. He was given an indefinite sentence for public protection with a minimum term of eight years.
In December 2019 Worboys, now 68, was handed two life sentences with a minimum term of six years, after four more victims came forward.
He had been due to face a public hearing next month, but it was cancelled after he asked for the decision to be based on written evidence submitted to the panel.
His victims’ fight for justice is currently being told in the four-part ITV1 drama, starring Daniel Mays as Worboys and Miriam Petche as Carrie.
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