Met Police lose John Worboys rape payout appeal

The Met Police has lost a challenge to a ruling which saw two rape victims awarded more than £40,000 for failings in its investigation.

The women were raped by taxi driver John Worboys and said their treatment by police caused them mental harm.

The Met's counsel told the Court of Appeal that the challenge related to points of principle, rather than questioning the bravery of the women.

Worboys was jailed in 2009 for more than 100 rapes and sexual assaults.

Three judges sitting in court upheld the original decision.

The appeal followed a 2013 High Court ruling which found the Met was liable to the women - known as DSD and NBV - for failures in its investigation under Article 3 of the Human Rights Act, which relates to inhuman or degrading treatment.

DSD said she suffered a depressive disorder as a result of her treatment by officers during the 2003 investigation and was awarded £22,250.

NBV claimed she suffered serious distress, anxiety, guilt and an exacerbation of post-traumatic disorder and depression because of her treatment by police. She was awarded £19,000.

Jeremy Johnson QC, representing the Met, told the court at an earlier hearing: "In each case, my clients accept they (the women) were let down in that there were steps which could and should have been taken to investigate what happened to them, which were not taken.

"Neither of them or any of Worboys' victims have any responsibility for what happened to them."

He argued that the law allowed for civil damages action against a sex attacker like Worboys, compensation from the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority and the making of a complaint to the Independent Police Complaints Commission which, in this case, resulted in officers being sanctioned.

But he said the law did not allow a right of action for damages for errors in a police investigation.

Lord Justice Laws, Master of the Rolls Lord Dyson and Lord Justice Kitchin, said the judge had been right to find a violation of the Article 3 investigative duty and upheld the decision.