Human Rights lawyer Harriet Wistrich has claimed that police failures in the investigation of serial rapist John Worboys allowed him to ‘perfect’ his crimes and continue assaulting women

The real life lawyer from an ITV crime drama about the ‘Black Cab Rapist’ has revealed how he carried out the “perfect crime”.

Pioneering human rights lawyer Harriet Wistrich, who will be portrayed on screen by Amandaland’s Philippa Dunne in chilling new series Believe Me, has told what it was like to work on the horrific real life case and hold to account a system that failed women.

She says: “The shocking aspect was the serial rapist nature of his attacks, and the fact that this was effectively enabled by totally inadequate policing.”

Believe Me, starting on ITV tomorrow evening (MAY 10), is about John Worboys, one of the most prolific sex attackers in British history, who is currently serving multiple life sentences for sexual attacks on women between 2000 and 2008.

Worboys, played in the drama by Daniel Mays, preyed on women under the cover of being a ‘respectable’ licensed London black cab driver.

He would target solo women to pick up, claim he’d had a big win at a casino or on the lottery, then offer them a drug-laced glass of champagne to help him celebrate – which would knock them out.

After assaulting the women, he would often then boldly drop them at home. The women often had little or no memory of what had happened to them.

Harriet, founder and CEO of the Centre for Women’s Justice, who worked on the notorious case, says: “What Worboys did was shocking. The fact that he rendered the women unconscious and then raped or sexually assaulted them in the back of his cab and then delivered them home with the expectation they wouldn’t remember.”

She added:” “That dangerous modus operandi was quite distinct but it clearly worked and he was able to get away with it for so long. That’s a very growing and present issue, that if you spike somebody’s drink and they then can’t remember what happened, then there’s no credibility as a witness.”

“If you don’t capture evidence of their drink being spiked, it’s very difficult to hold perpetrators to account. Everything was difficult to prove. So that was a bit of a perfect crime.”

The four-parter focuses on Sarah and Laila (not their real names), played by Aimée-Ffion Edwards and Aasiya Shah, who reported sexual assaults by Worboys but felt they had not been believed by the police.

However, they fought back and won, thanks to the tenacity and compassion of Harriet and barrister Phillippa Kaufmann KC (played by Rachael Stirling).

The survivors approached Harriet as she was known for her work representing women who had been victims of sexual abuse or who had killed their abusive partners.

Crucially, she believed them. They took the unprecedented step to sue the Metropolitan Police under the Human Rights Act for their appalling failure to properly conduct investigations, claiming it led to them being subjected to degrading and distressing treatment.

Not only did they make the police answer for failings, with the Met losing appeals all the way to the Supreme Court in 2018, but they also triumphed just weeks later by overturning Worboys’ parole.

Harriet, 65, recalls: “Unlike in the drama, the two women actually approached me separately. I was aware of the case and there had been some publicity about the police failures, but the more I delved into it, the more I understood the extent of the problems. The police failed them so badly.”

Harriett went on to add: ““We thought there was little financial risk as the police would just want to get rid of the case and settle, but they decided to fight it all the way.”

She adds: “What struck me was the prolific nature of his offending. It wasn’t just that an individual woman was let down by poor police investigation, but that because she and others were let down, it enabled this man to gain strength and confidence, to perfect his technique, to continue doing it, hurting so many women over a period of time.”

Though Worboys was formally convicted in 2009 for crimes against 12 women and in 2019 for four more, legal representatives and police suspected the true number of victims exceeded 100 women.

In powerful scenes in the true crime drama, Sarah gets into Worboys’ taxi after a night out in 2003, reluctantly accepts the drink, then passes out. She wakes up in hospital certain she has been raped by the cab driver.

After invasive examinations and gruelling questioning, the police are dismissive and her case is dropped. In Laila’s story, she is also drugged and assaulted before being dumped outside her student accommodation.

During humiliating questioning, even her red nail varnish is used to question her integrity. Harriet warns: “There is a really dangerous narrative that women make up false complaints. It’s a nightmare. No one’s going to make it up and go through that process with what they have to go through. It’s really hard for women to do, it’s quite traumatic.”

“One of the things that you get from this story is a particular way in which men target women, that women feel like they have to be polite,” she said.

“Even if a man’s bothering them, they don’t necessarily want to just tell them to p*** off. The way in which Worboys really pushed and persuaded them to take a drink and a lot of them didn’t really want to, I think that will ring true for most women. It is really quite hard to resist when someone’s being like that. It makes you seem really horrible if you’re not just friendly.”

The drama also highlights the many ways in which police did not handle the case correctly. Harriet explains: “The police were looking for evidence of a date rape drug, which there wasn’t, so they dismissed it. But actually, when you looked at the toxicology results, there were all sorts of other drugs in their system. So the women were left confused, left to think they just got very drunk or something weird had happened. That was a pretty shocking aspect.”

Recalling her time on the case, she said: “I also remember at the time of the attacks, the Mayor of London was doing a big campaign about ‘Never use an unlicensed cab, always use a black cab’. I remember both of the women saying to me how horrible it was to see this campaign.”

Harriet has also acted for the family of Jean Charles de Menezes, shot dead by Met police officers in July 2005, as well as a number of women in successful appeals against their murder convictions, including Sally Challen, abused and coercively controlled by her husband, and Emma Humphreys, who killed her violent boyfriend and pimp.

She still works tirelessly to highlight failures in the police and criminal justice system regarding violence against women, though it can sometimes be tough to keep the emotions in check.

Harriet, also a founder member of the campaign group Justice for Women, says: “If you want to remain empathetic, you’ve got to travel the journey a bit, but also you need to have a bit of separation so that you’re useful to your client, rather than an emotional wreck.”

“It’s about holding their hands through the process, but however hard it is, it’s their choice, and they’re doing it because actually, seeking truth and justice can have its own healing effect,” Harriett continued.

The drama also features Miriam Petche as Carrie Symonds, now the wife of former Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who was targeted by Worboys in her youth and had a narrow escape.

Unbelievably, only eight years after Worboys was convicted for his crimes, his victims were made to fight again to keep him behind bars.

Carrie, by then a senior figure in the Conservative Party press team, spearheaded a huge media and political campaign pushing for the unprecedented review of the Parole Board’s decision.

Worboys’ parole was quashed and the bravery of these women resulted in significant changes to the law. His next parole hearing is due to be held in public in June.

Harriet, who describes her key legal battles in her book ‘Sister in Law: Fighting for Justice in a System Designed by Men’, reveals she never ever felt like giving up.

She says: “It always felt like the truth, the justice, was on our side, and you just have to find a way to get there.” During filming of Believe Me, Harriet visited the ITV set and met Motherland actor Philippa, who was apparently nervous to meet her.

Harriet says: “She’s based on me, she’s not trying to mimic who I am. I think she was quite shy. I did actually send a couple of notes to clarify a point and also to say, ‘Could you just maybe show a tiny bit more empathy at this point’.”

She adds: “I’m really pleased the story is being told. I’m keen to use the drama as a vehicle to raise awareness about ways in which you can actually hold the police accountable. We need to protect women and girls.

“There are prejudices, sexism, misogyny, and a culture of blaming women for getting themselves raped. Women are being failed all the time. It’s still a massive battle. What you’ll get from the drama is why those women do it, why they continue to fight – not for themselves, for all women.”

Believe Me airs on ITV and STV from tomorrow night, Sunday 10th May at 9pm, with all four episodes available to stream on ITVX and STV Player

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MANCHESTER CITY 3-0 BRENTFORD: Jeremy Doku, Erling Haaland and Omar Marmoush scored the all important goals to ensure Pep Guardiola’s side remain in touch with Arsenal in the title race

It may not rival Vincent Kompany’s wonderstrike vs Leicester or Rodri’s historic winner in Istanbul when it comes to the pantheon of great Manchester City goals.

But for the third time in a week, Jeremy Doku delivered when his team needed him most to keep them alive in the title race – and to pile the pressure back on Arsenal ahead of their seismic showdown with relegation-haunted West Ham on Sunday.

After Doku’s 97th minute screamer salvaged a draw from the jaws of defeat in Monday night’s game with Everton, City knew there was no margin for error when Brentford rolled into town at The Etihad. To put it bluntly, anything but a win would pretty much make it game, set and match Arsenal in the title race.

And for an hour, it seemed as though only a Gunners implosion of absolutely epic proportions would deny Mikel Arteta and Co the domestic crown they have chased and craved so gamely for the last few years.

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But then, Doku produced what is fast becoming the Belgian’s trademark, bending a superb strike beyond the statuesque Caiomhin Kelleher and into the top corner.

The collective sigh of relief from around The Etihad could probably be heard all the way back in London, where all eyes will now turn to an Arsenal side who have form for being ground down by City in the championship rounds.

Erling Haaland plundered a second before Omar Marmoush added some gloss to a victory which, momentarily at least, puts City back to within two points of their title rivals. If Doku’s opener settled the nerves, Haaland’s scrappy goal extinguished them altogether. Marmoush’s added time strike was the icing on the cake.

This was not as comprehensive as the scoreline may suggest, though. City were booed off at the break after failing to break Brentford down despite accumulating 15 shots and enjoying 31 touches in the Bees’ penalty area.

The rather large caveat to those statistics was that just four shots found the target. But just as frustrations threatened to reach a simmering point, City found a way. Just as champions do.

Victory will not completely shift the trajectory of the title race. City are still the hunters; Arsenal started the day with the advantage and they were always going to end it in the ascendancy after City dropped points at Everton.

But this win means a first domestic title in a generation for the Gunners is not quite the foregone conclusion it would have been had City been unable to breach Brentford. And it means it’s now Arsenal’s turn to cope with the weight of expectation that comes with leading the league three games out from the post.

There were mixed emotions even in spite of Doku’s late goal against Everton. It didn’t feel like a point was enough. That may still prove to the case – but it certainly now feels a much better point that it did five days ago.

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A Labour MP has said she will trigger a leadership contest if the cabinet fails to move against Sir Keir Starmer by Monday.

Catherine West called on cabinet ministers to select a new leader in the wake of disastrous local election results for Labour.

West, who represents the north London seat of Hornsey and Friern Barnet, said it was impossible for Labour to recover with Starmer at the helm.

She told BBC Radio 4 Today: ‘This afternoon I would like the cabinet to come round the table and elect a leader among themselves, without humiliating the current leader Keir Starmer.’

The former parliamentary undersecretary of state for Indo-Pacific said if no candidate came forward to replace the prime minister, she would stand herself.

She hinted that Starmer could continue to have a role in government ‘doing international affairs’.

The Labour MP, who has represented her area since 2015, said she would seek 81 names needed to take to the party chairman to trigger a contest.

Starmer has vowed he will not resign and ‘plunge the country into chaos,’ although he admitted that the results were a tough pill to swallow.

He said today: ‘I’m not going to walk away from this, that would plunge the country into chaos.

‘But that doesn’t mean we don’t need to respond. It doesn’t mean we don’t need to rebuild. It doesn’t mean that we don’t need to set out the path ahead.

‘That’s what I’m going to do in the coming days’

Speculation over Starmer’s future as leader has mounted following Thursday’s election results, which have seen Labour swept from power in Wales and lose more than 1,000 English councillors.

The party also performed poorly in Scotland, where the SNP achieved a fourth successive victory in the Holyrood elections.

Several prominent backbenchers, mainly from the left of the party, have called on Starmer to go, including Clive Betts, John McDonnell and Jon Trickett, the latter who said the election results meant it was ‘curtains for Keir’.

Some, like West, however have suggested the party should elect a new leader without the drama of a leadership election over the summer.

However Labour deputy leader Lucy Powell said the PM should stay in position.

She said: ‘Thinking that setting out some kind of timetable would put to bed the issues of leadership, I think is actually the wrong conclusion here.

‘Because all that would do is fire the starting gun of a, quite honestly, very distracting and ongoing debate about leadership.’

‘I don’t want to see a leadership challenge, that’s not how we operate in the Labour Party’, she added.

Several potential leadership contenders have yet to publicly comment on the results, including Angela Rayner and Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham.

Friday saw Reform surge in most areas of the country, taking control of several councils including Barnsley, Walsall and Havering, while the Green Party made significant inroads in London and other cities.

Starmer is set to use both a major speech on Monday and the King’s speech on Wednesday to attempt to reset the agenda.

Health secretary Wes Streeting said the PM would ‘have my support’ when he sets out his government would move forward.

In the aftermath of the poll, Starmer has given new roles to party grandees Baroness Harman and former PM Gordon Brown.

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The party returned 17 MSPs at the Scottish Parliament election, tying with Labour for second place.

Reform UK Scotland’s new MSPs have elected the party’s leader and deputy leader. Thomas Kerr will be deputy while Lord Malcolm Offord will retain the top spot after already being appointed leader by Nigel Farage.

The party’s Holyrood group confirmed the posts on Saturday night. Mr Kerr is a former Tory councillor who defected to Reform last year, and on Friday was confirmed as one of the party’s 17 MSPs at Holyrood.

He was Lord Offord’s de facto deputy and was widely considered to be up for the role, which he said he was “honoured” to accept.

Mr Kerr added: “Across Scotland, people are crying out for honest leadership, practical policies, and politicians who are prepared to stand up for ordinary working people.

“Reform UK Scotland is building a movement that will challenge the status quo and bring real change to Scottish politics.

“I look forward to working with colleagues across the country to grow our support and deliver a stronger voice for Scotland.”

Lord Offord said: “Thomas is a talented and dedicated politician who understands the concerns of people right across the country. His dedication and passion for delivering change make him the ideal choice as deputy leader.

“Together, we will continue building a credible and ambitious movement focused on lower taxes, safer communities, economic growth, and restoring trust in politics.”

The party said Mr Kerr, one of its most vocal members on social media, would play a leading role in shaping party strategy and “engaging with voters” throughout Scotland.

Reform UK Scotland said the appointment “reflects the party’s determination to strengthen its leadership team and continue growing its support base nationwide”.

The party returned 17 MSPs at the Scottish election, tying with Labour for second place. The SNP finished first with 58 MSPs, while the Greens, Conservatives and Lib Dems won 15, 12 and 10 seats respectively.

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Hundreds of people have been arrested in the Indian border state of West Bengal after at least five people were killed in post-election violence.

State-wide violence and vandalism ensued on 4 March after prime minister Narendra Modi‘s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) tore through the liberal wall of Bengal to secure a historic victory.

The BJP defeated the incumbent chief minister, Mamata Banerjee, in a victory that further consolidated the saffron party’s power ahead of the next general elections. Ms Banerjee, a fierce critic of Mr Modi, had been the chief minister of the state since 2011.

Suvendu Adhikari, a former confidant of Ms Banerjee, was sworn in as the new chief minister on Saturday in the presence of Mr Modi in Kolkata.

One of Mr Adhikari’s aides was among those killed earlier this week, shot dead by gunmen on a motorcycle. Mr Adhikari said the BJP was “shocked, pained and hurt” by the death of Chandranath Rath and that he was killed “because I defeated Mamata”.

Clashes between Ms Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress (TMC) and BJP supporters erupted in the state capital, Kolkata, and elsewhere in the state shortly after the results were declared on Monday. The situation worsened after bulldozers razed multiple structures in the city’s New Market and a statue of Vladimir Lenin was brought down in Murshidabad district.

“Two of our workers were killed after the results of the elections were announced on Monday,” BJP state leader Samik Bhattacharya told the AFP news agency.

The TMC denied any involvement in the killings and accused the BJP of vandalising its party offices. “Violence and political killings have no place in a democracy and the guilty must be held accountable at the earliest,” it said.

A senior police officer, who was not authorised to speak to reporters, confirmed to the news agency that there had been four deaths in the clashes and said one officer had been shot in the leg.

Kolkata police chief Siddh Nath Gupta said more than 200 criminal cases have been registered ‌across ⁠the state for the violence, and 433 people have been arrested.

The gunmen who fired at Rath were still at large days after the incident, according to reports. At least five BJP workers sustained injuries after crude bombs were hurled on Thursday in the North 24 Paraganas district.

Michael Carrick sought to defend Joshua Zirkzee after his quiet afternoon for Manchester United in their goalless draw with Sunderland.

Zirkzee was handed his first start since early December given the injury to Benjamin Sesko and the lack of form of Bryan Mbeumo.

The Dutch striker has been a bit-part player since Carrick’s arrival in January, and struggled to make any real impact on the game when finally given a chance to start.

Zirkzee had just three touches in the opposition box and one shot on goal before being withdrawn after 65 minutes as United laboured to a draw at the Stadium of Light.

But Carrick was reticent to criticise the 24-year-old’s peformance given the nature of the game and his lack of game time in recent months.

‘I thought there were certain times when Josh linked the play really well and certain times when we probably left him a little bit isolated at times,’ Carrick told reporters post-match.

‘That’s how it goes, I think he played a real part for the team.

‘I understand it’s not always easy for any player when you haven’t played for a little bit to come into a game, so certainly not just judging any individual on just one performance today anyway.’

On his side’s performance more generally, Carrick added: ‘It was a tough game. Credit to Sunderland, I think we knew it was going to be a tough game coming here anyway.

‘We had to dig deeper times, it wasn’t our best, but actually to take something from the game when you’re not at your best is a good trait that we’re trying to build as well.

‘There were obviously changes and sometimes you’re trying to find that rhythm a little bit, which is understandable, but I still quite liked it.

‘A lot of the things to give us the foundation to then be able to play better at certain times, but to take a point and a clean sheet for what it is, I think, is okay.’

United were dealt a blow before kick-off when both Casemiro and Benjamin Sesko were ruled out through injury.

Asked for an update on the pair, Carrick said: ‘Casemiro will be fine, it’s not a major issue, he’ll be fine next week.

‘Ben will just have to see, he’s been carrying a shin problem for a little bit of time now, so we’ve just got to manage that and see what’s best for him.’

United are back in action next Sunday at home to Nottingham Forest.

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Janelle Holmes, chief executive of Wirral University Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, said in a letter to staff: “We have been asked by NHS England and the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) to house the guests recognising how quickly and positively we responded to and supported the repatriation of British nationals from Wuhan and the Diamond Princess prior to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The incident took place at around 4am this morning

A man has suffered burn injuries after a car was set on fire in East Belfast this morning.

The emergency services were called to the Bannagh Corner area of the city at around 4am on Saturday, May 9, following reports of a car on fire.

Firefighters and police attended the scene with the NIFRS dealing with the blaze.

A man in his 30s suffered burn injuries as a result of the fire.

Police have launched an arson investigation following the incident and are asking anyone with any information to contact them.

A PSNI spokesperson said: “Police received a report of a car on fire in the Bannagh Corner area of East Belfast at approximately 4am this morning, Saturday 9 ^th May.

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“Officers attended the scene alongside colleagues from the Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service who extinguished the blaze.

“A man aged in his 30s sustained burns as a result of the fire.

“Police are treating this report as arson, an investigation is ongoing.

“Anyone with information is asked to contact police on 101 quoting reference number 205 09/05/26. “You can also submit a report online using the non-emergency reporting form via www.psni.police.uk/makeareport/ “Alternatively, you can contact Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111 or online at www.crimestoppers-uk.org/.”