A black cab driver and serial rapist John Worboys faces a new rape claim investigation dating back to the 1990s.
Detectives have launched a fresh probe concerning an alleged attack in Blackpool, Lancashire, The Mirror reported.
The alleged victim said the assault took place over 25 years ago, when Worboys was working as a stripper.
According to The Mirror, specialist police officers visited his fellow performer Dave Hanson to uncover any vital clues.
A Lancashire Police spokesperson said: ‘We received a report of rape which was reported to have happened in the late 1990s in Blackpool. An investigation was launched, and our enquiries are ongoing. No one has been arrested at this stage.’
This is the first time he has been the focus of an investigation outside of the capital.
Worboys is serving two life sentences after being jailed in 2009 for assaulting 12 women in London.
He was locked up indefinitely for public protection with a minimum term of eight years, after he was found guilty of 19 sex offences against 12 women between 2006 and 2008.
A black cab driver and serial rapist John Worboys (pictured) faces a new rape claim investigation dating back to the 1990s
Worboys, from Enfield, North London, became known as the ‘black cab rapist’ after attacking victims in his hackney carriage
Police believe the former male stripper committed offences against more than 100 women before he was caught.
As a result of the publicity, more victims came forward to report attacks dating back to 2000, meaning Worboys had been committing crimes up to six years longer than previously thought.
He was charged with further offences in May 2019 and admitted two counts of administering a drug with intent to commit rape or indecent assault, and two counts of administering a substance with intent to commit a sexual offence.
Worboys, from Enfield, North London, became known as the ‘black cab rapist’ after attacking victims in his hackney carriage.
In several of the incidents, he pretended to be celebrating a win on the horses, or the lottery, as a pretext to give his victims alcohol – which he had laced with drugs.
During his sentencing at the Old Bailey, the court heard he had admitted to a psychologist that he plied a total of 90 women with alcohol, and drugged a quarter of them, after being inspired by pornography.
Worboys told psychiatrists he had been ‘fantasising’ about his crimes since 1986, and was motivated by ‘hostility towards women’.
A probation report in August 2019 found: ‘He is potentially just as dangerous now as the point of the first sentence.’
Worboys told psychiatrists he had been ‘fantasising’ about his crimes since 1986, and was motivated by ‘hostility towards women’
Sentencing him, Mrs Justice McGowan said: ‘I am satisfied to the required standard, on the evidence I have heard, that you are a continuing risk.
‘I find you are currently dangerous. Your offending spans five years more than previously known.
‘I do not know when, if ever, you will cease to be a risk. It will be for the Parole Board to decide in the future.’
The judge added that she was concerned about Worboys’ ability to ‘manipulate others’ and his ‘failure to admit’ the risk he posed.
In all, Worboys received two life sentences with minimum terms of six years for drugging women with intent plus six years in jail for two charges of administering a substance with intent. All the sentences are to run concurrently.
Following his sentence, Tina Dempster, of the CPS, said: ‘John Worboys is a dangerous predator who still poses a clear threat to women.
‘The CPS concluded it was clearly in the public interest to prosecute him again, when more victims came forward last year and revealed he had been assaulting women much earlier than he appeared prepared to accept, or to admit to the Parole Board.
‘Worboys claims to show remorse and believes he deserves credit for these guilty pleas.
‘But the fact is he did not accept responsibility for his first set of convictions until recently and, in a clear effort to minimise the extent of his crimes, continued to dispute victims’ accounts of the latest offences.
‘I would like to pay tribute to the bravery of all women who came forward and today helped keep a prolific sex offender behind bars.’
Lancashire Police have been contacted for comment.
