London cabbie John Worboys gets life sentence for sex attacks on more than 100 women

Cabbie admitted he plied 90 women with alcohol and drugged a quarter of them after being inspired by pornography. Photo / file

A former taxi driver believed to have sexually assaulted more than 100 women and already in prison for a dozen attacks received a life sentence Tuesday after pleading guilty to attacking four more women.

John Worboys, who has been dubbed the "black cab rapist," was serving a prison term for a 2009 conviction involving 12 women when the additional four came forward last year with detailed accusations against him.

According to information presented at his sentencing hearing in London, Worboys admitted to a psychologist that he had plied 90 women with alcohol and drugged a quarter of them after being inspired by pornography.

The 62-year-old told psychiatrists he had fantasised about the crimes since 1986 and was motivated by hostility toward women, a prosecutor said. His case caused a furor last year when a UK Parole Board said Worboys should be released from prison.

The decision prompted a protest from his victims because he had only been tried in a handful of cases. They argued the board should have considered that 102 women had made serious allegations against him.

The Parole Board changed course after the protests and kept Worboys in prison. The new victims came forward after the outcry received publicity. A probation report concluded in August that he "is potentially just as dangerous now as the point of the first sentence".

Worboys was locked up indefinitely for public protection with a minimum of eight years in 2009, after being found guilty of sex offenses against 12 women between 2006 and 2008.

The new charges indicates his crimes date back to 2000. He will be required to serve at least six years of the new sentence.