The police officer who actually managed to solve the John Worboys case - you know, the “black-cab rapist” who drugged and assaulted multiple women - says the criminal justice system is “close to exploding with a frightening bang.” Which is reassuring.
Tim Grattan-Kane, the retired senior investigating officer who led the team that finally arrested Worboys in 2008, says similar crimes could still be happening today. Because of course they could. The system, he notes, is overstretched, underfunded, and apparently held together with hope and paperclips.
Grattan-Kane says he knows young police officers who are frustrated, waiting on the Crown Prosecution Service, who are “underfunded and taking so long to make decisions.” There’s also a shortage of support workers “because of financial cuts.” And getting trials is a nightmare because, according to the Law Society, more than half the courts in England and Wales were closed between 2010 and 2019. That’s not great for a system that relies on courts.
Speaking ahead of a new ITV drama, Believe Me - about the women whose testimony finally put Worboys away - Grattan-Kane says there’s still a “real problem” with “men administering drugs to facilitate sexual assault.” He points to the Gisèle Pelicot case in France and Vikas Nath, a Knightsbridge restaurateur facing trial over similar allegations (which he denies).
Drink spiking, he says, has become “far more common,” either because more people are aware of it and trying it, or because more men have “a bad approach to women.” Or maybe, just maybe, more women are reporting it. Who can say?
In Believe Me, Grattan-Kane’s team gets credit for solving the Worboys case after previous Met officers bungled it and missed crucial evidence. His team found links between Worboys’ crimes, re-examined old blood tests and CCTV, and even consulted a trainee black-cab driver to predict the attacker’s possible routes.
Grattan-Kane says officers told victims: “You will be trusted, you will be listened to, you will be believed.” Which is why the drama is called Believe Me. And, shockingly, “the phone started to go red hot.”
The Worboys case helped change how police handle rapes. Grattan-Kane says the process should start from believing women. But the system needs “continued, constant monitoring” to make sure that actually happens. He also says police need to “think the unthinkable” about people in positions of trust - because Worboys was a black-cab driver who dropped victims home after assaulting them, so no one suspected him. “When the police are investigating these things [they need] to try and keep an open mind. But I’m aware not everyone had the same attitude.”
He cites the murder of Sarah Everard by off-duty Met officer Wayne Couzens as another example of someone using their profession to gain trust. Grattan-Kane says police shouldn’t be excused for past mistakes, but acknowledges their response is now “far more centred” on survivors. The Met was under pressure after Tony Blair’s government adopted New York’s target-driven accountability system. Grattan-Kane says if you “measure performance - by numbers rather than quality - you end up with a problem. There’s always a balance to be struck in a process where you want something [that is] victim-focused.”