‘Cabbie in sex attacks case plied me with champagne’

An alleged victim of a cab driver who is accused of drugging and sexually assaulting young female passengers told a court today how he kissed her in the back of his cab after giving her champagne.

The 22-year-old hedge fund administrator told Croydon crown court that she got into a taxi driven by John Worboys, 51, in Regent Street at about 2.30am on 28 June 2007 to go to her home in Tufnell Park.

She is the fourth to give evidence against Worboys and one of 14 alleged victims. The driver, from Rotherhithe, is accused of administering a substance with intent and sexual assault. He denies 23 offences, including rape, sexual assault and administering a substance with intent.

The passenger said that Worboys had told her that he had won £47,000 at a casino and added: "I said, I'll get the cab ride for free then,' he said: Yeah'."

He offered her a glass of champagne to celebrate and they stopped. She said: "I remember being really groggy, he was leaning over me and kept saying I had made his night. I wasn't able to communicate that other than grunting."

She said he kissed her on the sides of her face then her lips, with closed mouths. Her next memory was waking up at home the next day. She reported the matter six months later after friends read about the case in a newspaper and contacted her. She made a positive identification in an ID parade. The trial continues.