The wife of former prime minister Boris Johnson has said there could be “up to 1,000, if not more” victims of London taxi driver 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 urged any victims who have not done so already to come forward and report the assaults to police.
“The truth is that his crimes span from, what we know, from 2000 up to when he was convicted in 2009,” she told Good Morning Britain on Wednesday.
“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.”
Worboys is serving a life sentence for luring women into his cab late at night, pretending he had won money and offering them celebratory drinks laced with drugs.
The Parole Board last week said he “continues to represent a high risk of committing further serious sexual offences against women”.
Mrs Johnson is one of several women who spoke out to keep Worboys in jail.
She has waived her right to anonymity and said news he had been refused parole came as a “huge relief” to many survivors.
On Wednesday, Met Police Assistant Commissioner Matt Twist urged victims of any sexual assault or rape to come forward “no matter how long ago” the offence took place.
The force currently has around a 15 per cent conviction rate for rape.
“We know that there's more to do”, Mr Twist told Times Radio.
“The figures that we've seen are that over the last three years are investigation into rape and serious sexual offenses has significantly improved.
“The numbers have gone up, the number of reports that we're getting has gone up, and the number that we are charging has gone up significantly.
“It's over double what it was last year, but we're not complacent. We know there's more to do. We know that there is. This is a historically underreported crime, and it remains under reported.”
He added: “We would encourage anyone who believes they've been a victim of sexual assault, no matter how long ago, to get in touch with us.”
More people have come forward to say they believe they had been in Worboys taxi after watching an ITV dramatisation of the case, Mrs Johnson said.
She 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.”
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.
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
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.”
Reflecting on her own experience, Mrs 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.
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.
