Carrie Symonds will never know exactly what happened to her when she was preyed upon by sick sex attacker John Worboys.
Boris Johnson’s fiancée and mother of their son Wilfred was just 19-years-old when she became one of the Worboys’ victims in July 2007.
Unlike many of the women who were targeted by Worboys, Carrie remembers the horrifying night she stepped into the Black Cab Rapist’s taxi before he gave her alcohol.
Then a first year student at Warwick University, Carrie was waiting at a bus stop after a night out in Fulham when Worboys pulled up on the King’s Road.
Carrie only had £5 on her at the time, but the seemingly kind taxi driver appeared to take pity on her and offered to accept that as payment because he lived in the same direction as her.
But this one of the many lies that Worboys would tell as he lived on the other side of town – and was planning a horrific crime.
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Carrie was subjected to the same well-practised routine that Worboys used on his unsuspecting victims, claiming he had won big at a casino.
He would then brandish a carrier bag full of money and offered his female passengers a glass of champagne to celebrate, which he had drugged with sedatives.
Worboys was convicted of sexually assaulting some of the female passengers he drugged.
Thankfully, Carrie poured the champagne on the floor of his cab without having a sip as she sensed danger.
“I felt indebted to him because he had given me a cheap lift home. But when I got the glass I secretly poured it on to the floor as I was worried it might be spiked,” she told The Telegraph in March 2009.
The vile sex attacker told Carrie a story of a woman who performed a sex act for £250 and asked if she would consider doing the same.
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Having noticed the spiked champagne had not worked, Worboys stopped the taxi and got in the back to join her.
Despite Carrie’s pleas that she was young and needed to get home, Worboys challenged her to down a shot of vodka for £50 and a free lift home.
Carrie was incredibly uncomfortable but felt “indebted” to Worboys for picking her up and thought he was a “sad loser”.
“I downed it, which was stupid, as I just wanted to get home. From that point on I can’t really remember what happened,” she explained.
“He seemed to be this sad man who had no one to celebrate with him. I pitied him, I didn’t feel frightened – I just thought he was weird.”
Carrie has no memory of the rest of the journey home and does not know for certain what Worboys did to her.
When she got back, Carrie collapsed in front of her mum while vomiting and laughing hysterically before passing out until 3pm the next day.
(Image: Getty Images)
Over a six year period, 14 women between the ages of 18 and 34 went to the police over sexual assaults or other worrying experiences in a taxi.
Despite them all having similarities, the police failed to link them together.
Worboys was arrested for the sexual assault of a 19-year-old student in July 2007 but was released on bail.
Three reports of attacks from December 2007 to February 2008 convinced police they were dealing with a serial rapist and Worboys was arrested when a staff member at a sexual assault clinic remembered one of the cases.
Carrie, who was 20 when the case went to trial, was one of the 14 brave women who testified against Worboys, who pleaded not guilty to all 23 counts brought against him.
“It was absolutely terrifying when I found out how many woman he had gone after,” she said afterwards.
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“I was definitely in a position of danger, in a situation where I was not in control and I will never know what really happened to me.
“He is a sad, wicked man who is a danger to society. I feel so angry that he pleaded not guilty and made us go through the pain of giving evidence in court.”
In March 2009 at Croydon Crown Court, Worboys was convicted of one count of rape, five sexual assaults, one attempted assault and 12 drugging charges from July 2007 to February 2008. He was cleared of two counts of drugging.
Worboys received an indeterminate sentence of imprisonment for public protection with the minimum custodial sentence set at eight years.
But this was not the final time Carrie would have to take action to ensure the sex offender stayed behind bars.
Carrie, who was the youngest of Worboys’ victims, courageously waived her right to anonymity to campaign tirelessly to prevent him leaving prison after it was revealed the parole board was considering him for release.
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“The worst thing is not having peace of mind. I’m 99.9 per cent sure that nothing happened to me, but I will never know,” she said.
Carrie and a brave group made up of more of his victims discussed their ordeals and managed to raise a massive £70,000 to pay for judicial review into the decision.
She described it as “incredible feeling” when they won and the rapist was told he would remain locked up.
Carrie told The Evening Standard: “We knew he remained a danger to women and we knew we had to do all we could to prevent anyone else being drugged, assaulted and raped.
“Finally, we’ve been listened to and proved right.”
In December 2019, Worboys was jailed for life with a minimum term of six years at the Old Bailey after he admitted spiking the drinks of four women and lost a Court of Appeal challenge against his sentence last month.
*Predator: Catching The Black Cab Rapist airs tonight on Channel 5 at 9pm
Originally from https://www.mirror.co.uk/tv/tv-news/john-worboys-victim-carrie-symonds-23785080