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Rape trial cabbie: I was a male stripper for 13 years
Paul Cheston, Courts Correspondent20 Feb 2009
THE licensed black cab driver accused of drugging and sexually assaulting women passengers was a male stripper for 13 years, a court heard today.
John Worboys performed at hen parties, gay venues and in kissograms under the stage name "Terry the Minder", the jury was told.
It was only when he reached the end of his shelf-life as a stripper that he took up driving taxis, he said, but Worboys never lost the craving for women's company he attributes to the emotional devastation of losing his mother at the age of 13.
He told how he would offer glasses of wine and champagne to women passengers late at night. He would invent lies about winning the lottery and asked them to help him celebrate his winnings in order to make himself appear interesting, the court heard.
Worboys, 51, entered the witness box at Croydon crown court, where he is accused of attacking 14 women over 16 months.
The court has heard how he scoured the West End for women and regaled them with tales of his "winnings" before spiking their drinks.
A series of women have told how they were molested when in a stupor and powerless to resist.
Worboys, dressed in a black suit and tie, repeatedly wiped away tears as he told of his early life.
He worked as a milkman around Enfield and Cheshunt and started his first long-term relationship with a woman called Debbie. In 1987 he entered what was described in court as "the entertainment industry".
"I was a male stripper for roughly 13 years and performed pretty much daily, mainly to hen nights, Monday to Saturdays, doing kissograms and sometimes on Sunday lunchtimes at gay venues," he said.
Three photographs of Worboys under his stage name were shown to the jury to reflect "different stages of his entertainment career".
He revelled in the attention. "I enjoy women's company and I found it very enjoyable," he said.
After his relationship with Debbie broke up he married mother-of-three Jean but despite their best efforts they were unable to have children together.
They broke up in 1995 and Worboys became a qualified taxi driver the following year. He began carrying alcohol in his cab in 2002 after a woman passenger had commented on seeing another taxi driver passing back wine. "I had a woman in my cab going back to Notting Hill who said that was a good idea," he told the jury.
"She said she thought black cab drivers were miserable bastards. I didn't think we were as I am always polite to people but I thought it was a good idea to offer drinks to customers.
"From the beginning it was wine and champagne. I would also wait until I had two or three thousand pounds and just make up a story that I had won it in a casino or in the lottery.
"I would show it to them and ask if they would celebrate with me and have a glass of champagne to celebrate my winnings. It was like banter really to get their attention.
"I think it's due to my mother dying of cancer when I was 13. All my friends were getting attention and cuddles and I didn't get that at home."
Worboys agreed with his counsel Jeremy Gold QC that some people might think this "very odd".
"Yes when I think about it, but it just seemed to work and people believed me when I showed them the money - it was just banter," he replied.
Worboys said that 99 per cent of women would accept a glass and he would then ask their permission to get into the back with them. He insisted that if they said no he would stay in the front seat and if they wanted to be taken home immediately he would comply.
He accepted he told women "lies" and would not give them his real name.
Worboys, of Rotherhithe, has pleaded not guilty to 23 charges, including rape, sexual assault and administering a substance "with the intent of stupefying or overpowering the victim to enable him to engage in sexual activity", between October 2006 and February last year. The case continues.
