Fury as Met blows £1m fighting compensation claims by two of John Worboys’ victims in the courts
COPS blew more than £1million fighting compensation claims by two victims of black cab rapist John Worboys.
The women battled for five years to share just £41,250.
The High Court awarded cash in 2013 after ruling that the Met had not properly investigated the attacks on them and was liable for their suffering.
The force fought the case in the Court of Appeal — which ruled in the women’s favour in 2015 — and all the way to the Supreme Court, which last week also agreed.
It ran up £946,727 in legal costs, figures from freedom of information laws show.
That ignores in-house costs of the Met’s lawyers, staff time and other backroom resources — taking the true sum over £1million.
The Met admitted its case was not based on “factual differences” between it and the women about officers’ blunders.
It instead claimed the battle was about “interpretation of European human rights laws”.
But five Supreme Court justices agreed victims of serious crime should be able to sue cops if they fail to investigate properly.
Victim DSD was the first to report Worboys in 2003. She said she had a depressive disorder from police’s treatment of her. She was awarded £22,250.
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Victim NBV said she suffered distress, anxiety, guilt, PTSD and depression after her 2007 report was mishandled. She got £19,000.
Met Deputy Commissioner Sir Craig Mackey said after last week’s verdict: “We’ve accepted serious mistakes were made.”
Worboys, 60, feared to have attacked over 100 women, got an indefinite jail term in 2009.
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